


In His Own Way

by zynnser



Series: Approved Tolerance [2]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Minor Violence, thief!Hide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-09 23:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 38,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3267755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zynnser/pseuds/zynnser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hide was probably already in over his head with the thieving, the hacking, and the yakuza who were out for his blood, so why not add one more thing to the list? At least he knew the dangers of associating with ghouls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunflower_crown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflower_crown/gifts).



> This fic came from a [prompt](http://amonseyebrowgame.tumblr.com/post/102162145258/hidekane-headcannons) amonseyebrowgame posted almost three months ago. I jumped all over it, and now I finally have something to show for it. Thank you for such a fantastic idea!
> 
> Thanks to [Kari](http://archiveofourown.org/users/neesha89/pseuds/Kari/) for being my sounding board and beta, any mistakes you find have been reinserted into the fic without her permission.
> 
> As a disclaimer, I do not do any of the things that are done in this fic (stealing, picking locks, breaking and entering, brewing coffee, walking around Tokyo, etc.), so if anything seems unrealistic (or if Tokyo bears an eerie resemblance to parts of New York) please forgive me and suspend your disbelief for the duration of this fic.

Hide sat in a damp alleyway behind a dumpster listening to the sirens wailing on the main road and wished he’d remembered to bring his music.

Waiting in an alley listening to sirens was a familiar experience, though thankfully not one Hide had to sit through very often, because dumpsters smelled really bad and seriously harshed the buzz of a job well done. Not that he had a buzz going on tonight, not in the least. Tonight he’d been set up.

Set up. _Him_. Inconceivable.

Hide heard a car slow down by the alley entrance and stifled a giggle at his own inappropriately timed joke. Double checking to be sure he couldn’t actually be seen from the street, Hide thought back on the job he’d taken, trying to figure out exactly where it had gone wrong. It had sounded like a fairly straightforward job when he’d agreed to take it; in and out of a big shot corporation boss’s office to get the low down on exactly which money laundering scheme he was in on. Because he was in on one; Hide did his research before taking on a job. The guy was so dirty he made sewers look clean, but the police couldn’t pinpoint the who’s and where’s, so they couldn’t arrest him for it.

The client had been an employee at the corporation who said they were tired of the corruption at the top of the ladder. Not unusual; lots of people disliked their bosses. Hell, _Hide_ disliked his bosses half the time and he got to pick and choose. The client had also provided the information on what time the boss left the office and the type of security he employed there.

So no obvious red flags on the client, but that didn’t mean much; the client was the only person who had an estimate of where and when Hide would be breaking into the office. Hypothetically speaking, the security guards could have called the cops on him. Or he could have set off the motion detectors in the office. Or he could have triggered a fail safe program on the head honcho’s computer.

But that was ridiculous. Hide knew how to do his job and how to do it well; he’d have noticed if he’d set off any alarms. The moniker _Mr. Hyde_ hadn’t been easy to earn, especially not for a human in a market saturated with ghouls, and his reputation in the underworld and the obscene amount of money it cost to hire his services spoke for themselves as to his efficiency.

Besides, the cops had arrived on the scene less than ten minutes after Hide had entered the building. Even if they’d been called the second he was spotted on the premises, their normal response time would have given him at least fifteen minutes before he had to bail even accounting for the late night lack of traffic.

A thief had to be thorough though, Hide reminded himself, mentally sighing as another cop car drove by the alley entrance and resigning himself to at least another hour soaking up the aromatic perfume of rotten bananas.

Settling in for the long haul, Hide decided to review the personal security first. There had been twelve guards when Hide had gotten a visitors badge to scope the place out during a press conference two days ago. Six guards were placed on the first floor either in the lobby or by the elevators, and the other six checked in by radio with the front desk every fifteen minutes. And he’d successfully dealt with all of them: he’d knocked out the four at the doorway with gas, tazed the two by the elevators, and avoided the six patrolling the halls all within the fifteen minute window between check ins; no one who had known he was there had been left conscious enough to call for backup.

Although now that he thought about it, that level of security in and of itself smelled a little fishy. No company Hide had ever heard of wasted money keeping the same number of guards on duty overnight as they did during the day. Not unless the brass were a bunch of paranoid bastards. Or unless they were warned.

Unless they were warned.

It seemed like a viable possibility, so Hide paused to give it due consideration. Combined with the early advent of the police it certainly sounded like a convincing theory, and although it seemed likely, the tattle-tale didn’t have to be his client. For all he knew the rat who had sold him out worked in the IT division and got his rocks off by hacking into employee’s personal phones and reading private emails; it could literally be anyone.

But even if there were an information leak, and the more Hide thought about it the more enamored he became with the idea, they would have needed to know the exact time Hide intended to break in for the plan to work, and no one had that information. Hell, even he didn’t always have that information until he left for his heist.

Hide wanted to claim he did it on purpose because the truth was much less flattering. It was just - sometimes the hot water lasted longer than usual and he liked to luxuriate in his showers. And sometimes he burned dinner and had to start from scratch or crunch his way through a layer of carbon. Life was about enjoying the little things; it wasn’t like arriving half an hour after midnight would damage his chances of entering a building unseen.

So if they couldn’t predict exactly when he would arrive, they had either staked out the main building and probably the surrounding area as well, or he needed to look for a hidden tracking device pronto.

A quick and somewhat frantic pat down came back negative on a bug, but Hide couldn’t be completely sure until he’d checked everywhere. Even so, the lack of cops and thugs bearing down on his current location made him more than willing to put his chips on door number two: surveillance. An informant might not have known the exact day or time he would strike but they definitely knew the week, and for a corporation rolling in dirty money hiring a couple extra hands who didn’t ask questions would be a cakewalk.

Hide let himself feel a little flattered; going through the expense of paying his upfront consulting fee and hiring potentially illegal muscle for a week must have been a major pain. To go through all that trouble just to catch him was like sending roses and chocolate only better because it came with money and a vendetta. Hide could entertain himself for weeks unraveling this one.

Chiding himself for getting distracted from the original purpose of the thought exercise by the promise of a high stakes gamble, Hide refocused on the second trap he could have been caught in: technology.

Careful not to dismiss the electronic security just because he had a pet theory, Hide mentally reviewed the path he’d taken through the building, remembering each sensor and camera he could have been caught by and the actions he’d taken to avoid them. He’d dodged the cameras above the elevator bank, walked over the motion sensors in the hallway, and ducked from the roving cameras that monitored every corner. Envisioning the building schematics, Hide thought about where he would place sensors if he’d been in charge of security. He came up with a few more hotspots (sensors under the desk, alarmed office doors, motion detectors by the stairwells), and tried to think of any that might have caught him.

He came up blank.

Being able to eliminate motion detectors and automated alarm systems as the source of his current police problem left Hide feeling rather good about his burgling skills. Not that he hadn’t been confident before, but even the best thief occasionally had doubts. And even if he had gotten caught on camera, the formless black clothes he wore on the job would make it all but impossible to identify him by camera footage alone.

More or less satisfied with his conclusions about the night’s SNAFU, Hide refocused his attention on the situation at hand.

Straining his ears against the sound of the city at night, Hide listened for the telltale wail of police sirens and the weighted synchronized footsteps of heavily equipped men walking in formation. In the distance he heard the grating buzz of an ambulance siren, but no sound of law enforcement in any form.

His stomach gurgled, reminding him that even if he was sitting next to a particularly foul waste bin, it had been hours since dinner and it was definitely time for a snack.

Standing up and dusting off his pants, grimacing briefly as his fingers brushed against something sticky that he was absolutely _not_ going to think about, Hide took a good look around at the alley. Two grimy fire escapes ran up the buildings on either side, and a tall fence topped with barbed wire separated the back entrance from what looked like another grungy alley.

People, Hide thought with a shake of his head. People were crazy when it came to staking out their territory.

Still, the fire escape clinging to the building just above his head had promise. It looked sturdy enough to support his weight without collapsing, which was always a plus. Also, it was close enough to the dumpster that he could climb onto it without having to jump.

Unfortunately, that meant he’d have to climb the dumpster.

Aside from the ever present stench emanating from its no doubt putrid bowels, the dumpster’s primary feature was a delightfully slick substance that covered a good portion of the metal. Taking a deep breath and trying not to think too hard about what he was doing, Hide blindly grabbed the top rim of the dumpster, hauling himself up to crouch precariously on one side of the hell mouth. Stretching his legs up and out as soon as he felt semi-stable, he let himself fall forward and latch onto the third rung of the fire escape ladder, leaving him dangling a good two meters above the ground.

Swinging backwards and tucking in, Hide pulled himself up and planted his feet on the ladder. When shifting his weight didn’t cause the entire structure to creak and groan, he started climbing.

Checking out each visible apartment as he went, Hide crossed off the second, third, and fourth floors. Too fancy, too well lit, too environmentally friendly. The fifth floor apartment, however, looked _perfect_. It was dark inside and sparingly furnished but appeared comfortable, like the owner might have a few close friends he or she entertained on a regular basis.

And a good host always had food on hand.

Grinning, Hide reached into his boot and pulled out his knife. The window was the standard double hung model, so all he had to do was jimmy the latches open with the knife and presto! Open season on the pantry.

Sometimes double hung windows got stuck or decided they just didn’t want to work, but someone up top must have decided Hide needed a break after the set up earlier, because the latches flipped open and the window slid up like they’d been freshly oiled just for him.

Closing his knife and slipping it back into his boot, Hide stepped into the apartment, taking care not to knock into anything that might be just out of sight by the window. He slid the window down behind him, not bothering to lock it. He’d probably be coming back out this way after he liberated some food, but getting caught because a strong breeze through the window knocked something over would just be lame.

Making his way silently into the kitchen, Hide started with the cabinets. Usually people kept their snack foods in cupboards by the stove. Or by the dishwasher. Or both. Hide definitely kept his in both, but he also possessed about twice as much junk food as the average person.

The poor soul who owned this apartment seemed to hoard coffee like Hide hoarded pocky. Brazilian coffee, Hawaiian coffee, Jamaican coffee, Javanese coffee, Kenyan coffee. Hide wouldn’t be surprised if he found a Russian blend or some other such nonsense. These types didn’t even _match_. It was almost as if someone were trying to replace the diversity of the world’s cuisine with just coffee.

Appalled by the contents of the cupboards, Hide decided to move on to the refrigerator. Opening the door carefully so as not to wake the apartment’s inhabitant, Hide took a peek inside.

The contents of the fridge were just as disappointing as the contents of the cabinets: a bunch of unlabeled brown packages about the size of a roll of ground beef from the supermarket. Reaching in and grabbing one of the parcels, Hide startled a bit when it also _felt_ exactly like ground beef. Seriously, what kind of person survived on meat and coffee alone?

Meat. And coffee.

_Shit_.

Placing the package back in the refrigerator as gingerly as if it were a bomb, Hide closed the door and turned to get out of the apartment as quietly as he could. Mind whirring, Hide frantically tried to figure out if he had overlooked any obvious signs (aside from the coffee collection) that would point to this apartment belonging to a ghoul.

This apartment was _nice_. All the ghouls Hide had ever met lived in basements in the middle of Sketchville, not family friendly middle class apartment buildings.

Maybe that was because all the ghouls Hide knew were active in the underworld. But still.

“What are you doing?” a voice asked, coming from just beyond the kitchen entrance. Hide froze, watching in horror as a man dressed in pajamas walked into the kitchen, looking simultaneously wary and adorably confused to find a stranger standing in the middle of his kitchen.

If he hadn’t just been caught breaking and entering, Hide would be all up in that, because _hot damn_.

Unfortunately for Hide, finding an uninvited guest in the kitchen typically didn’t put people in the mood for flirting. In fact, it usually put them in a bad mood. A very bad mood which for ghouls meant someone could end up missing a few internal organs. Hide had preparations for facing humans like this; he had contingency plans that involved charming his way into their good graces or sweet talking his way out of the house or failing that just saying fuck everything and making a break for it. Too bad he couldn’t implement any of them right now, because his brain was running in circles like a fucking hamster squeaking _ghoul! ghoul! ghoul!_ as if that would make his situation any better or the man ( _ghoul!_ ) standing across the kitchen from him any less attractive.

“Nothing much,” Hide said, laughing a little bit hysterically as he nervously scratched at his cheek. “I thought the building looked nice, so I came in to check out the apartments.”

The ghoul was glaring at him with a supremely unimpressed face. And okay, that hadn’t really been a very believable argument, but Hide thought he deserved some credit for coming up with it on the fly. Lying to stupidly hot strangers had never been his forte, even when he didn’t have to make up bullshit on the spot.

“Nice try,” the ghoul said, sarcasm dripping from every word. “How about you tell me why I shouldn’t call the police and turn you in.”

Hide heard the words being spoken, but they didn’t make any sort of sense beyond his instinctive panic at the words _law enforcement_. Because really, a _ghoul_ planned to turn him in to the _police_? What kind of ghoul did anything with the police? Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill him? That seemed like a much tidier solution for someone who was his own corpse disposal machine.

“How do you know that?” the man asked and oops, Hide must have said that last part out loud. The ghoul frowned at Hide, his expression taking on an entirely different demeanor as his mouth tightened into a narrow line and he lowered his head, letting the fringe of his ridiculous white hair cover his eyes.

If he got out of this alive, Hide would have to look into the active ghouls in the 7th ward because he definitely did not want to run into this guy on the wrong side of a job. Deciding that his best shot at getting to do that search might be to tell the truth, Hide went for broke.

“I got hungry out on a job and broke in to look for a midnight snack and, uh, you don’t really have my brand of junk food.”

“I see,” the man said, not backing down an inch. Hide swallowed harshly because yeah. This was not a position he liked being in. At all.

Trying to suppress his rising panic, Hide figured he might as well continue. “So I’d really appreciate it if you could refrain from killing me. I’m rather attached to the idea of seeing tomorrow. And! I’ve got connections that can help keep your fridge stocked, no questions asked. No killing required! It’ll cut down on your risk of getting caught every time you get hungry.”

Silence settled between them, lingering long enough to make Hide wish he could fidget without losing his momentum. Finally, when he was about to say something else just to hear his voice, the man spoke.

“Did you really just break into my home and give me a marketing spiel about food?”

“Um,” Hide said intelligently because yes, yes he had. It definitely hadn’t been his original intention to sign up as a ghoul food runner, but if it got him out of here alive then hell yeah he’d take it. “Yes.”

The ghoul gave him a slightly twisted grin and tilted his head back just enough for Hide to see the gleam in his still human eyes. “What makes you think I need help getting my food?”

That, Hide could admit, was a good point. Certainly the guy’s refrigerator contained more than enough food for the next month; two months, if he remembered the ghoul TV specials correctly. But still, he had to try.

“I never said you needed help,” Hide replied, shrugging as he tried to act nonchalant about the situation. “I just said it would be easier.”

“Maybe,” the ghoul replied, stepping forward into Hide’s space. “But I don’t like anyone else playing with my food, so I’m going to have to turn you down.”

“Oh,” Hide said, not sure if he sounded more disappointed or terrified. If he couldn’t come up with a good reason for the guy to let him go, he probably wouldn’t be leaving except as ghoulish leftovers.

Following that train of thought, Hide had a sudden flash of worry that the ghoul might use the dumpsters under his window for his leftover food, but then squashed the thought. Ghouls weren’t known for leaving anything lying around. And if that thing on the back of his pants was actually blood or guts or brain matter? Hide _really_ didn’t want to know.

“Oh?” the ghoul repeated, leaning in even closer and _sniffing_. “I think you can do better than that.”

“I, uh,” Hide stuttered, hoping that whatever the ghoul was smelling didn’t invoke any thoughts of dinner. “I don’t suppose you could let me go anyway?”

“And if I do that,” the ghoul said, speaking straight into Hide’s ear, “what guarantee do I have that you won’t go running straight to the CCG?”

“The fact that they would arrest me immediately for aiding and abetting suspected ghouls during the raid on Kamii University two years ago?” Hide said, his voice hitching up embarrassingly high when the ghoul actually moved _closer_ while he was talking.

“I know you don’t have any reason to trust me,” Hide continued, desperate to get his argument out before the guy decided he wasn’t worth the risk and took a chunk out of his jugular. “But I’m not going to go running to the authorities with any stories. Honor among thieves and all that jazz.”

Pulling away as quickly as he had stepped in, the ghoul looked him in the eyes, then nodded. “Good enough. You don’t smell very tasty anyway, and I hate wasting bodies. Make sure you leave through the window; I don’t want the neighbors getting any ideas.”

And wow, rude. Hide did not stink. Taking a discreet whiff of himself, Hide grimaced. Okay, maybe he did smell a little bit, but it wasn’t his fault he’d been stuck next to a dumpster for an hour waiting for the cops to stop searching.

When he looked up, the twisted smile had reappeared on the ghoul’s face. And maybe he had read that wrong the first time. Maybe this guy just had a really weird way of expressing amusement.

Hide felt the ghoul’s presence hovering right behind him as he walked over to the window, pushing it up and stepping out onto the fire escape.

“Oh, and one more thing,” the ghoul said, leaning out the window to stare Hide right in the eyes. “Don’t come back.”

With that, he closed the window, flipping both latches closed and walking away, presumably back to the bedroom or wherever he had come from. And that? That was a mistake. He’d practically challenged Hide to come back for a second round of breaking and entering.

And Hide never could resist a challenge.

*  *  * 

Three days later Hide knew that the occupant of the fifth story apartment he had broken into was named Kaneki Ken. He also knew that Kaneki Ken had a penchant for frequenting bookstores and coffee shops, usually alone but sometimes with a middle school aged girl who was definitely too young to be a girlfriend. Also that he had suddenly dropped out of Kamii University two years ago after starting a degree in Japanese Literature.

The fact that he’d been enrolled in Kamii during the raid and was somehow still alive piqued Hide’s interest, and it explained an awful lot about why he had allowed Hide to leave the apartment in one piece. It did absolutely nothing to resolve the problem of what a ghoul was doing living in a middle class apartment building though. Especially since, as far as electronic records went, no one by the name of Kaneki Ken had any sort of job or income in the greater Tokyo area.

Of course, work with the yakuza and other underworld entities usually didn’t make it into government records.

Unfortunately, that amounted to the sum total of information Hide had been able to find on his own about Kaneki Ken. If he wanted more, he’d need to talk to his contacts, and explaining why he wanted the low down on a ghoul who had no business relationship with him required a higher level of mental fortitude than Hide was prepared to deal with.

Too bad. Hide could use some distraction from the rest of his life right now.

The rest of his life being the fact that he apparently had to deal with a pissed off yakuza group who were after his head.

In general Hide had a pretty sweet gig. He got to pick his own jobs, and he typically took the ones that ruined corporate bosses and made him feel like he did some good in the world, even if he was just a common criminal. After all, he only went after the bosses that flaunted their ability to break the law without consequence or extorted innocent bystanders and then used their power and influence to have them silenced. And maybe Hide had a natural aversion to people who aired the dirty laundry of the underworld for everyone to see. Maybe he also enjoyed taking them down a peg using their own methods.

Yeah, Hide had an awesome job.

But apparently the background checks he ran on potential targets had been slipping in quality lately, because a second look revealed a pattern in his recent marks. A rather important pattern that Hide had a little trouble believing he’d overlooked.

Yakuza connections weren’t something that should ever be overlooked.

Long story short, the not-so-upstanding businessmen that Hide had recently been stealing incriminating information from all paid exorbitant fees to a small number of their shareholders. Tracing the money back to the specific shareholders, Hide found police records connecting about two thirds of them to the Daigo-kai, a Tokyo based yakuza.

Extrapolating on the amount of money it cost to place agents in a shareholders meeting, and then the amount of bribe revenue that would be lost while the board searched for and vetted new potential company heads, Hide definitely understood why they might be a little cheesed off.

He just didn’t understand how they’d connected the dots back to _him_.

Hide was _careful_. He didn’t leave tracks that could lead to his door, and he _definitely_ didn’t take multiple jobs in the same territory frequently enough to get flagged by the higher ups. That was _rule number one_ how the _hell_ had he let that slip through the cracks?

The short answer was that he hadn’t. His jobs had been scattered around Tokyo, just like usual. His targets had been brought to him by clients for different reasons, just like usual. He had gone about each break in and exposure in a slightly different way, just like usual.

The much longer and more detailed answer eluded Hide, but it probably involved money, money, and more money. It typically did.

The more immediate problem, however, was how to get off the yakuza’s radar, which boiled down to figuring out whose palms he needed to grease and how much cash he needed to do the job properly.

So he needed money. The kind of money that would impress people who drove fancy imported cars and bought the top shelf brands for their afternoon tea and spirit parties. Basically, the kind of income a thief couldn’t earn on his own. Hide had seen some hit contracts that could give him the sort of cash he needed, but he hadn’t gotten desperate enough yet to pit himself against the ghouls who worked as the assassins of the underworld.

Which brought him to his current solution: politicians.

Targeting city officials and legislators always wigged Hide out a little, because no matter who he took down he would be influencing every single person in the politician’s jurisdiction. Every single person, innocents and mobsters alike. And candidates today ran on such a huge array of issues that taking someone out of the race could have rippling effects so far down the chain that it gave Hide headaches just thinking about it.

Yamada Daiki though, he looked like a guy Hide could take down and come out clean. Hide’s client wanted him removed for his anti-environmental policies and the bribes he’d taken from several pharmaceutical companies to remove the more severe waste disposal restrictions at their production facilities. Hide didn’t much like the sound of that, but he liked the sound of the man’s prison policies even less. Calling for increased fines and mandatory prison time for all non-violent criminals? Where the hell did he think he was living? The United States?

And the best part? No yakuza connections. None. Nada. Zip. Hide had explored every group he could think of and come up empty handed. Yamada was perfect.

Except for the little fact that the job didn’t have any exceptional monetary benefits, just his standard fee. But Hide couldn’t slack off on his usual work if he intended to be able to pay his way off the Daigo-kai’s blacklist.

Twirling his pen around his thumb with a sigh, Hide glanced at the schematics on his computer again. Normal security, infrequent cameras, motion detectors a baby could avoid, and a six digit password consisting of Yamada’s girlfriend’s birthday. He could be in and out by himself in under an hour even if he went in during broad daylight.

Especially if he went in broad daylight. Politicians had a wonderful habit of doing meet and greets with the public.

But a careless thief was a dead thief, and Hide had learned that lesson well. The most dangerous job always happened right after a set up, because he would have no idea whether or not his unrelated jobs were being tracked too.

Setting down his pen, Hide groaned, flopping back in his chair and contemplating the unfairness of the universe that he had to call for backup _now_. Reaching for his phone, Hide hit number four on speed dial.

“Hey, Kimi. I need to ask you a favor...”

*  *  *

“You’re sure you can’t do this one on your own?” Kimi asked, giving Hide an unimpressed look as he approached as she hopped off the park bench to greet him.

“I told you I need someone watching my back today,” Hide grumped, still sore about having to call in backup for such an easy job. “And his primary demographic is apparently young couples who are worried about their safety and don’t know how to do their fact checking yet.”

“Just wanted to make sure,” Kimi said, her expression sliding into her professional smile. “You do remember we charge twenty percent of the projected profit regardless of whether the job gets done or not, right?”

Hide groaned, letting his own on-the-job face slip into place as he offered Kimi his arm. “Don’t remind me. I swear you two ought to be giving me the friends and family discount.”

“We are giving you the discount, honey,” Kimi giggled, pressing up against Hide and batting her lashes at him. “We usually charge forty percent.”

“It’s an extortion scheme, I swear,” Hide mumbled good naturedly, hiding his frown by pretending to press a kiss into Kimi’s hair.

“We’re criminals, of course it’s an extortion scheme,” Kimi replied, patting his chest cheerfully as they headed toward the edge of the park.

“Hey, Kimi. If you don’t keep your hands to yourself Nishio-sempai really will eat me this time,” Hide said, trying to tug his arm discreetly away from her to put some distance between them.

Kimi, the conniving harpy, didn’t let him, latching on even tighter as they arrived at the crosswalk. “My favorite little kouhai? He wouldn’t dare.”

Hide sighed and let himself be steered toward the administrative building across the street, forcing himself to ignore Kimi’s needling. She always seemed to know which buttons to push to get a rise out of him, a trait Hide blamed entirely on her association with Nishio. That bastard had a tendency to bring out the worst in people, which for Kimi apparently meant turning up the flirting to eleven on all her heists. Hide tried not to think about it; it was probably their version of foreplay and that was a mental image he really didn’t need.

“So what is the speech on today?” Kimi asked, her voice dragging Hide back into the present.

Chiding himself for getting distracted on a job, Hide focused on the task at hand as they entered the lobby, blending in with the crowd of people flocking to listen to Yamada’s speech. “He’s supposed to be talking about organizing neighborhood watches to make the streets safer for children.”

Kimi snorted and, looking around, Hide really had to agree. The majority of the people present looked painfully middle class, and those neighborhoods usually weren’t all that dangerous to begin with.

Then again, Kaneki lived in a building populated with these sorts of people, so maybe Hide was wrong.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming out to listen to me today,” Yamada said, emerging from behind a curtain and stepping up on a podium at the front of the room. “I hope that I am not imposing on your busy schedules too much, and that we can all walk away from today feeling a little bit better about the future of Tokyo and Japan.”

Careful not to let his disgust show on his face, Hide wondered just how big an ego a guy could have. Claiming to be interested in the future of Japan when he was running for a council seat at the city level? Even if he did have the people’s best interests at heart, promising to change the whole country from a city administrative position was impossible.

Still, somebody must have thought it was possible, or Hide wouldn’t be getting paid to expose the paper trail for the bribes he’d taken.

Keeping his attention on the people around him instead of the speech, Hide waited until the majority of the audience was staring at Yamada with glazed eyes and rapt expressions before making his move.

Nudging Kimi, he leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Bathroom?”

She nodded and they pushed their way through the crowd toward the restroom sign, making apologies and excuses as they went. When they had made it safely out of view of the crowd, Kimi let go of him, stepping to the side and leaning up against the bathroom door.

“You’ve got five minutes, sunshine. Think you can be back in time to pick me up without getting spotted?”

“Piece of cake,” Hide replied, setting off down the hallway toward the offices at the back of the building. “Don’t forget to fix your makeup, darling.”

She made a face at him as he rounded the corner, taking care to hug the near wall to avoid detection by the security cameras. As Hide had predicted, the job itself was a cinch. The security inside the building was a joke, and breaking past the six digit passcode in Yamada’s computer was child’s play.

Four minutes later Hide found himself loitering outside the ladies’ room door, waiting for Kimi to make her appearance. Just as he was about to knock on the door and call out to see if she was still there, it flew open to reveal a distressed looking Kimi staring down at her phone.

“Ten ghouls incoming from the park,” she said, grabbing Hide’s hand and hauling him deeper into the building. “We’ve got to bail.”

Not questioning the information, Hide let himself be dragged through the building towards the back door without complaint. “I thought you and Nishio-sempai had gone high tech,” he said instead, pointing at the cell phone. “What happened to the earbuds?”

Kimi shot him a look that Hide translated into a ‘you should already know,’ and gave a disgusted sigh. “Because in a situation like this it attracts far more attention when a woman responds to an invisible companion rather than leaving in a rush after checking her phone and panicking.”

“Ah,” Hide said, nodding his understanding even though she couldn’t see. “I don’t suppose Nishio-sempai told you if we should make a ruckus as we leave or not?”

“Nope,” Kimi replied, making a beeline to the back door as soon as it came into view. “You got any idea who those guys are?”

“I have an idea, but I’m not sure exactly what they’ll do if they catch up to us,” Hide hedged, not flat out lying but not filling her in on all the details either.

“Should have known there was a reason you wanted backup on an easy job like this,” Kimi said with a snort. “So we’re going with Plan C?”

“You always go with Plan C,” Hide said, yanking the fire alarm as they barreled out the door.

“That’s because it works so well,” Kimi said smugly, spinning away from Hide and walking down the street, disappearing into the afternoon rush.

“Split up and blend in only works well when you don’t have any distinctive features,” Hide muttered after her, well aware that she couldn’t hear him anymore. Still, he had his own methods for vanishing into a crowd, so he slipped away in the opposite direction, making sure not to come into view of the park as he did so.

By the time he had walked two blocks away from the building, he heard the distant wail of sirens as the police and firefighters arrived on the scene. Knowing that their arrival could make the ghouls even more frantic to find him, Hide changed direction, heading away from anything that might point to where he lived.

In a happy coincidence, his path lead him straight through Kaneki’s neck of the woods.

Figuring that there was no time like the present to see if Kaneki was serious about his implicit invitation, Hide checked to make sure he wasn’t being followed and ducked into the alleyway he had hidden in for his previous job. Deciding to jump for the fire escape rather than touch the dumpster again, Hide managed to snag the bottom rung on his third try. A bit of painful acrobatics later and he was on the platform, heading up the three flights of stairs to the fifth story.

The latches on the window were just as easy to pry open this time as they had been two days ago. Hide slipped inside with a grin, figuring that if Kaneki really hadn’t wanted him back he would have improved security on his window.

Closing the window behind him and glancing around the room, Hide noticed that the chain on the front door was latched in place. Deciding to time how long it took for Kaneki to notice his presence, Hide took his shoes off and set them by the door before padding back into the main room and taking a seat on the couch.

“I thought I told you not to come back,” Kaneki’s voice said from the back hallway, sounding more resigned than upset.

Under a minute then. Hide grinned, sitting up in the chair and waving Kaneki over to the sitting area. “You must be mistaken,” he said, laughing lightly as Kaneki’s expression twisted up in confusion. “You definitely invited me back.”

“I distinctly remember saying ‘don’t come back,’” Kaneki said, walking over to a chair and sitting down, clearly operating on autopilot. Hide watched as the horrified realization of what he’d done crossed Kaneki’s face and then again with the second realization that now he couldn’t leave without being rude.

“I heard that,” Hide allowed, still grinning at Kaneki’s disgruntled expression. “But I also saw you dare me to try again and really, you should have changed your locks if you didn’t want me coming back.”

“So you’re saying it’s my fault.”

“Exactly, Ka-ne-ki-kun,” Hide said, wagging a finger in front of Kaneki’s face and watching as his features hardened.

“How do you know my name.”

Oops. He may have pushed a little too hard on that one. “It’s on your lease,” Hide explained, spreading his hands out in a conciliatory gesture and leaning back against the couch. “Your history is almost embarrassingly easy to look up, you know. And it’s not too hard to figure out that you’re a ghoul either, what with you leaving Kamii right after shit went down. I’m surprised you don’t have the authorities knocking on your door already.”

“Who the hell are you and what do you want,” Kaneki demanded, voice low and dangerous.

Realizing he still hadn’t introduced himself, Hide startled slightly, hands coming down to rest on his knees as he sat up straight in his seat. “Sorry! I’m Hide. Well, Nagachika Hideyoshi, but please don’t call me that. Like I said last time, I’m a thief. And I don’t really want anything in particular, but right now I’d really like a place to hide from the police.”

“I suppose I can let you hide here, if you’re avoiding the police,” Kaneki allowed after a moment of awkward silence. “I don’t particularly want them snooping around though, so try not to make a habit of it.”

“So I can’t use this as a safehouse?” Hide said with a dramatic pout, feeling like they’d finally made it to some sort of common ground.

Kaneki looked him straight in the eyes as he replied, “No.”

Hide felt the corners of his mouth tug up a little, then let out a full bodied laugh when Kaneki didn’t break eye contact with him. Oh it was on. And Kaneki was finally speaking his language. “Okay, I think I got it.”

“Good,” Kaneki said, standing and brushing imaginary dust off his pants. “Would you like some coffee?”

Momentarily stunned into silence, Hide stared blankly at Kaneki for what was probably an unacceptably long amount of time. Kaneki raised his eyebrows at Hide’s lack of response, and the movement seemed to reboot his brain functions.

“Yes, I’d love some.”

“Excellent,” Kaneki said, heading over to the kitchen.

Hide openly gawked at Kaneki’s back as he walked away, simultaneously admiring his assets and wondering when they’d become familiar enough for Kaneki to turn his back on Hide. Then again, being a ghoul probably meant that Kaneki was confident in his abilities to overpower one human on his own turf. Which was a fair assumption, all things considered.

Following him over to the kitchen in a manner reminiscent of a lost puppy, Hide watched as Kaneki set a kettle on the stove and selected a canister of beans from the cupboard, expertly measuring them out and pouring them into a grinder. The grinder whirred to life, the sound harsh in the quiet environment that had been building between them.

Emptying the grinds into a filter and placing it in a funnel above a pot, Kaneki wandered over to another cabinet to retrieve two cups, pulling out a bag of what appeared to be brown sugar cubes as well. The kettle whistled and Kaneki removed it from the stove, turning to carefully pour the steaming water through the coffee grinds.

Finishing by pouring the now percolated coffee into the two mugs and dropping one of the brown cubes in his own, Kaneki offered Hide the other.

“Thanks,” Hide said, clearing his throat when his voice came out rougher than he expected.

Kaneki smirked over the rim of his coffee cup. “I worked in a cafe a while back.”

“Ah,” Hide replied intelligently, brain stuttering to a stop as it presented him with the image of Kaneki in a cafe uniform. He’d probably have looked a little odd with the white hair, but Hide didn’t try to kid himself that he wouldn’t have become a regular if he’d gotten to see Kaneki making coffee like this every time he came.

“Is it still open?” Hide asked, genuinely curious. “The cafe, I mean.”

“It closed a little over a year ago now,” Kaneki replied. “I left before then, but I keep up with the staff.”

"Any interesting stories from working there?”

Kaneki frowned as if realizing he shouldn’t be conversing so freely with someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a total stranger. “Everyone who works in a cafe has interesting stories,” he said, pointedly taking a sip of coffee.

Hide took the hint and tried a bit of the coffee Kaneki had made for them. It tasted bitter, more bitter than he was used to, although if that was the lack of milk and sugar or the roast Kaneki had used, Hide didn’t know.

“It’s good,” Hide said politely. “Thank you.”

“The manager taught us well,” Kaneki replied, features softening into a pleased expression as he watched Hide drink. “Once you’re done with your coffee you should go. It’ll have been long enough for the people chasing you to have given up.”

Hide nodded, resolving to take as much time as he needed to finish the coffee. Too bad he had downed half of it already while he was paying more attention to the way Kaneki’s fingers looked wrapped around his cup than to what he was drinking. To be fair, they were very nice fingers. Extremely nice, even if the black on his fingernails didn’t look painted on and wouldn’t _that_ be an interesting story to hear.

They stood across the kitchen from each other until Hide was unable to drag the cup of coffee out any longer. He sighed sorrowfully and rinsed it out in the sink behind him, setting it on the counter for Kaneki to take care of later.

“That was possibly the most pleasant hiding from the cops experience I’ve ever had,” Hide said, walking over to the front door to pick up his shoes. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to make this a regular thing?”

“Not a chance,” Kaneki replied, following Hide over to the window just like he had the first time.

Pushing the window open and sitting on the sill, Hide put his shoes back on, feeling the weight of Kaneki’s stare on the back of his neck as he double checked that the laces were tied to his satisfaction. “All right then,” Hide said with a grin, hopping down out of the window and onto the fire escape. “Thank you for your hospitality, I’ll be sure to avoid this place in the future.”

Kaneki didn’t reply, instead choosing to shut and lock the window in Hide’s face, eye twitching slightly in what Hide thought might be a wink before walking away.

Hide walked down the stairs, smiling to himself as he went. He’d definitely be back, and probably sooner rather than later. But there were a few things he needed to do before that, the first of which was contacting Kimi to see if Nishio had any information on the group that had been tracking him today.

Once he reached the street, Hide pulled out his phone, dialing Kimi’s number.

“Hey Kimi,” he started as soon as he heard the phone click on, “did Nishio-sempai get anything on the group that was following us?”

“You should know better than to call us right after a job,” Nishio’s voice said through the speaker, sounding even more irritated than usual. “And I’ve told you not to call me that.”

“Nishio-san,” Hide corrected. “Did you have any details on the ghouls that nearly walked in on us?”

“Not if you’re going to phrase it like that,” Nishio grumbled. Hide rolled his eyes at Nishio’s manners. Really, sometimes it felt like the guy still held a grudge that he hadn’t met Kimi first. It was hardly Hide’s fault that he’d been at the right place at the right time and landed himself a truly awesome best friend, but Nishio still seemed to think he had to stake his claim like a goddamn caveman every time he talked to Hide.

Sometimes he wondered what Kimi saw in him.

“You really don’t have a leg to stand on when you clearly just answered her phone in a moment of post-coital lunacy,” Hide said. “Just tell me about the ghouls.”

Hide heard a faint giggle coming through the phone and grinned at the thought of the look on Nishio’s face. He always had the funniest expressions of impotent rage, and Hide hoped that Kimi was enjoying this one enough for both of them.

Nishio sighed and the laughter became slightly louder. “Fine,” he said finally, “There were ten of them all headed over to the building you were in together like they were in a squad. They didn’t even bother to hide the fact that they were together, which I hope I don’t need to tell you is unusual. And what’s even weirder is that I’ve heard of a few of them before and they’re not the type to act in groups.”

“Huh,” Hide said thoughtfully as he filtered the condescension out of Nishio’s words and parsed together a meaning. “Got any names for me?”

“I recognized the Bin brothers and Naki, the other seven I’d never seen before.”

“You’re sure it was Naki?” Hide asked. He knew who Naki was; everyone knew who Naki was. Everyone also knew that Naki wouldn’t go anywhere without Yamori unless he absolutely had to, and Yamori generally stayed in the 13th ward.

“He’s an extremely distinctive ghoul,” Nishio ground out, sounding insulted that Hide would question his observations.

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Hide placated. “That is weird though.”

“Weird is one word for it,” Nishio said. “Now is there anything else or can I get back to spending some quality time with my girlfriend?”

“Wouldn’t want to disappoint the lady,” Hide replied. “Tell her thanks for me.”

There was a pause for a few seconds while Hide thought Nishio might leave without saying anything. “You’re welcome,” he said finally, followed by a click as he hung up. Hide pulled the phone away from his ear with a laugh. Such a typical Nishio moment.

Slipping the phone back into his pocket, Hide headed home, making sure to keep an eye out just in case the posse hadn’t given up on tailing him yet.

*  *  *

In the end, Hide hadn’t been able to find any good leads on who the Bin brothers and Naki might be working for. The problem wasn’t a lack of information; exactly the opposite. In the past six months, the three of them had taken jobs from no less than sixteen individual yakuza groups belonging to four independent alliances. And while that pattern of activity was strange enough to raise the hairs on the back of Hide’s neck, it didn’t get him any closer to figuring out who had hired them to go after him.

Keeping it in the back of his mind as another piece to the puzzle, Hide had pressed on with his regularly scheduled activities, bringing him here.

Here was buying groceries at a supermarket in the 7th ward instead of casing a joint for a job he had pegged as an easy in and out.

Normally when Hide did recon he tried to come up with a good excuse as to why he needed to be there. Sometimes he was a potential intern, sometimes he was a janitor-in-training, sometimes he didn’t even show up and just hacked into their camera system. It helped him stay under the radar and avoid getting flagged as ‘suspicious’ by security. It was amazing how much harder a job became once the entire security force was on the lookout for a young blond man with shifty eyes.

Technically he had a cover today too; he’d signed into the building’s guest list as a member of the press trying to get a soundbite from Nakamura Shoma, the former cop running for a seat on the ward council. Too bad that plan had been scrapped as soon as he’d seen the security surrounding the front doors.

So to the grocery store it was.

Slightly bummed that he hadn’t gotten the chance to do any snooping, Hide had come out of the store holding a bag with some creamer, sugar, and snacks. Given that shopping had been the only thing he’d done since he arrived, it was extremely unlikely that the police cars he kept seeing at increasingly short intervals were here for him.

Still, Hide had an ingrained distrust of authority and this many police cars in one place made him nervous. It didn’t help that his habit of checking license plates told him that it wasn’t just one cop circling the block, it was at least six cars of cops absurdly close together. And he couldn’t even say fuck it and leave because the number of cops around made him too twitchy to walk home.

Kaneki lived here though, which was just about the next best thing. And while Hide was nominally in the area to scope out a building, his choice to come check it in person might have had something to do with its proximity to Kaneki’s apartment.

Okay, maybe it had a lot to do with its proximity to Kaneki’s apartment.

Apparently today was a bad day to be on this side of town though, because the more black and white cars he saw the more he felt the need to clutch at his grocery bag like it was a get out of jail free card. _Someone here to size up an office building for a heist, officer? Oh no, not me! I’m just out doing some shopping, see? They were having a sale on creamer today, hahaha!_

Hide took a deep breath, reminding himself that the fastest way to get off the streets was to get to Kaneki’s apartment. The last block to the main entrance was the hardest, and Hide resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder every two seconds. Looking suspicious would not win him any favors.

Finally, _finally_ , he reached the apartment building entrance. Shuffling his bags so that he could get a hand on the door, Hide shuddered in relief as he stepped inside. Walking past the security counter and over to the door, Hide’s eyes lit up as he looked at the keypad. He recognized the model as having a standard six digit code and no matter what personal information he did or didn’t have, he could figure out the code on a lock like this with one hand tied behind his back. Wear patterns were a wonderful, wonderful thing.

“Excuse me, I don’t think you live here,” a woman’s voice called from across the room. Hide turned to look, spying the woman sitting behind a check in desk and giving him the stink eye from over the rim of her glasses.

So that’s why Kaneki lived here.

“I don’t,” Hide said, putting on his most charming smile. “My friend asked me to get some food for him, but I can’t get him to answer the phone. Could you let him know I’m here?”

The lady looked at him like she didn’t believe a single word he said. “Your friend got an apartment number?”

Hide resented that. He resented that a lot. He did not look like a thief or a bum or anyone even remotely untrustworthy today, and he did not deserve the scowl she was sending his way.

“Apartment 510,” Hide said, remembering the number from the building schematics. “His name is Kaneki Ken.”

She muttered something under her breath and shifted through a pile of paperwork. Hide got the impression she knew exactly what she was doing and just wanted to make herself seem busy to piss him off. Normally he would have found it funny, but with the number of cops patrolling the roads outside he felt a little unnerved.

“Okay,” she said at last and pulled up a sheet of paper Hide _knew_ she’d already flipped past at least three times. “I can buzz his alarm, but he’ll still have to come down to the lobby to let you in.”

“That’s fine,” Hide said with a forced smile. “Just let him know I’m here.”

The next five minutes were among the longest in Hide’s life. He couldn’t really put it up at the number one spot - that went to the time he’d spent crouching in a corner of the dean’s office with Kimi and Nishio the day of the CCG raid - but it definitely ranked in the top five.

After what seemed like an hour, Kaneki finally opened the locked door and walked into the lobby.

“Dude, you get lost or something on your way down here?” Hide asked, keeping his voice light and inclining his head toward the ill tempered lady behind the desk. “I thought your receptionist was going to have my head for bringing you dinner.”

The tightness around Kaneki’s eyes said that he would like nothing better than to let that happen. Instead, he turned and spoke politely to the receptionist. “I’m sorry I didn’t notify you that Hide would be coming over today. It was a bit of a last minute thing, and I forgot he hasn’t been here before.”

The receptionist waved his apology away. “It’s no trouble dear, you don’t get many guests so I just wanted to make sure he was on your green list.”

“Thank you for your trouble,” Kaneki said, bowing slightly. Straightening up he turned to Hide, indicating that he should follow. Hide watched as Kaneki mashed the code into the lock, taking note of the numbers in case he needed to use it. 0-9-1-8-1-4. So it was a date? Hide briefly wondered who that date was important to, then shrugged it off. He had other things to worry about right now.

Like the pissed off ghoul leading him up to his apartment.

Trying not to think about that, Hide observed the area around him. No video cameras, no motion detectors, old fashioned key locks on all the doors. Except for the scary receptionist in the lobby, security here was a joke. Hide could appreciate why a ghoul might live here; a respectable looking establishment combined with low security was a common criminal’s dream come true.

Unlocking apartment 510, Kaneki walked in, not bothering to hold the door for Hide. Hide followed anyway, toeing off his shoes as the door swung shut behind him.

As soon as the latch clicked into place, Kaneki was up in his personal space with an expression that could curdle milk.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?”

Hide held up the bag of groceries as his explanation. “I thought your apartment could use some food.”

“And you picked _today_ ,” Kaneki hissed, clearly aware of something Hide was not.

Hide glared, because blaming him for being out of the loop was so not fair. He’d checked on patrols and police presence last night before setting up his plans and everything came back green. How much could change in twelve hours?

A lot apparently.

“I may have also been scheduled to canvass an administrative building for a job in this area, but I had no idea there was a fucking police infestation going on. Everything was fine yesterday, what the hell happened?”

“A murder happened, not two blocks from here. A dirty cop who everyone knew was involved with the yakuza but no one had any evidence on. Found torn to pieces in his car,” Kaneki said, keeping his voice low.

“They’ve announced it was a ghoul attack?” Hide asked incredulously. Torn to pieces was the MO for vendettas carried out by ghouls, since they were the only ones who could mutilate a body that much without leaving behind enough physical evidence to get caught. But generally the police kept it quiet like they did the rest of the inter-gang violence on the streets; no need for people to get worked up over something that would never affect them.

“Not officially, but the increased patrols have everyone who knows on edge,” Kaneki replied, taking the grocery bags from Hide and walking over to the kitchen. “Now is a very bad time to be drawing attention.”

The _especially for someone like me_ went unsaid, but Hide heard it anyway. “Sorry,” he offered and wished he could help.

Kaneki didn’t acknowledge his apology, setting the bags on the kitchen counter and pulling out their contents. Picking up a package of potato chips, Kaneki turned to Hide and raised a judgmental eyebrow. Hide shrugged. Potato chips were good and besides, it wasn’t like they were going to be clogging up _Kaneki’s_ arteries so he had no room to complain.

“Well now that you’re here, you should probably stay for a while,” Kaneki begrudged, opening the cupboard over the dishwasher and stashing them on the bottom shelf. Hide let out an aborted whine of dismay at the rough treatment of his food, but decided that this was not a battle worth fighting so long as Kaneki didn’t throw the food in the trash.

The cabinet doors slammed shut and Kaneki turned to glare at Hide, arms folded against the counter behind him. The silence stretched out between them until Hide felt compelled to break it.

“I could make coffee?” he suggested tentatively, hoping that Kaneki wouldn’t shut him down. He didn’t want to spend the next several hours in a tense face off across the kitchen because Kaneki was unwilling to let him out of sight and he was unable to leave with so many cops around.

Kaneki’s nose wrinkled as if imagining all the ways Hide would screw up his precious coffee. Hide wanted to be offended since Kaneki had never been witness to his brewing skills, but he couldn’t honestly disagree with the judgment even if it was a little rude.

“Lunch then,” Hide trying again, grasping at straws. “I could eat snacks and you could have one of your little brown packages.”

That got him another raised eyebrow, more challenging than judgmental this time.

“What?” Hide asked, not sure how to interpret Kaneki’s string of silent disapproval. “Is there some rule about not contaminating your table with human food or am I missing something obvious here?”

Kaneki glared at him for a moment, before letting out an irritated huff and motioning for Hide to follow him. Hide did and they walked into the living room where Kaneki turned to look at Hide before glancing pointedly at the couch. He awkwardly shuffled past Kaneki and sat down gingerly, wondering if the couch would open up and swallow him.

It didn’t. Pity.

Suddenly breaking into motion, Kaneki reached out to grab something off of the end table. Hide jerked back, arms coming up to defend himself before he noticed it was just a book. A book that Kaneki was holding out for his perusal.

“Read.”

His voice held no room for disagreement and Hide found himself nodding meekly and reached out to accept the book before he’d really given any thought to whether or not he wanted to read.

Kaneki jerked it back just before Hide made contact, leaning forward and staring into Hide’s eyes as he spoke. “No wandering around. Sit and read until I say you can leave.”

“Okay,” Hide said quietly, barely recognizing the sound of his voice. Was he really that cowed by an angry Kaneki?

Yes, yes he was.

Still glaring, Kaneki stood up straight and held out the book again, not letting go until Hide tugged on it.

“Don’t mess it up,” Kaneki said ominously. He shifted, his stance loosening as he looked at the cover in Hide’s hands. When he spoke again his tone was softer, almost fond. “Takatsuki Sen is my favorite.”

Hide nodded dumbly and glanced down at the book in his hands, noticing the title for the first time. _Dear Kafka_ had more than a few creases in the spine and the corners had been blunted down from their sharp bookstore angles. Even without Kaneki’s comment, Hide would have pegged this as a well loved story.

“I will,” he replied, gently turning the book over to read the back cover.

Satisfied with Hide’s treatment of his favorite novel, Kaneki turned and left, heading down the hallway he’d appeared from, presumably returning to whatever he’d been doing before he’d had to come collect Hide from the lobby.

Once Kaneki was out of view, Hide relaxed back into the couch and opened the book. He’d be stuck here for a while, so he might as well read and see what he could piece together about Kaneki from his favorite piece of literature.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Hide woke up with book over his face and a crick in his neck.

Straightening up with a groan, he winced as his spine let out a series of pops and cracks. He made a mental note not to take any more naps on Kaneki’s couch; it definitely wasn’t as comfortable as it looked.

The apartment didn’t have any visible clocks, but one glance out the window told him he’d stayed longer than he’d intended. The sky had taken on the burnished gold color of the sun setting over the pollution and buildings of the cityscape, and it was definitely time for him to be going if he planned to be home before dark.

And he really really wanted to be out of this ward before dark.

“Kaneki?” Hide called out.

Silence.

“Kaneki!” Hide said again, louder this time. When he got no response, he pushed himself up off the couch and made his way to the bedroom, peering into the bathroom and study for any sign of Kaneki as he passed by.

When knocking on the door proved to be just as futile an effort as yelling had been, Hide tested the doorknob. It turned easily under his hand and Hide cracked the door open, peeking inside.

The room was empty except for a bed and a nightstand, which really shouldn’t have surprised Hide as much as it did. Kaneki didn’t really strike him as the type to take unnecessary risks like leaving his apartment to the mercy of a known thief, but honestly, what did he have to worry about? There was nothing worth stealing in the apartment and Kaneki was already trusting Hide with the most dangerous secret.

Still, leaving a guest asleep on the couch was rude, and Hide let out an irritated huff of breath and stomped over to the kitchen. If he couldn’t take out his irritation at being unceremoniously _abandoned_ in the apartment on Kaneki, he could at least drown his sorrows in calories and grease.

Glaring at the cupboard door like it had personally offended him, Hide yanked it open and pulled out his potato chips. The bag crinkled and something poked into his hand. Looking closer, Hide noticed a sticky note attached to the bag.

> _Out running errands. Lock the door when you leave._  
>  _-K_

Hide snorted in disbelief at the message and detached it from the bag, slipping it into his pocket. A note was seriously all the effort he warranted? He didn’t want to be offended by the casual dismissal inherent in just leaving a note, but damn him if he wasn’t upset anyway.

Regardless, the fact that Kaneki had left a note meant he either expected to be out later than Hide was willing to stay or he didn’t want Hide to see him when he came home. Probably both, given what sort of _errands_ Hide knew most ghouls went on.

Trying to remind himself that they _weren’t_ friends and that there was no reason for Kaneki to wake him up before he left to just _tell_ him to lock up when he wanted to leave, Hide started searching the apartment for a key. The exercise managed to provide some distraction from the emotional storm of rage and hurt that he was brewing, but when a thorough search failed to turn up the key Hide had had enough.

Deciding that if Kaneki had wanted the deadbolt shut, he should have left the key somewhere noticeable, Hide trudged back to the main entrance and slipped on his shoes. He still made sure to lock the handle when he closed the door behind him though; he wasn’t a total asshole.

Once on the street, Hide toyed with the idea of heading straight home. The sun was going down and it was late enough that he would normally be thinking about making dinner, but the restlessness of a job left undone compounded with his irritation at Kaneki made him think twice about throwing in the towel.

Hide might not be able to do anything about his Kaneki situation, but he could take out his frustrations on the job.

Heading back over to the building he had passed by earlier, Hide was pleased to see it locked up for the night and the retinue of policemen gone. The front door was easily visible from the main road, so Hide slipped into the narrow side street with the emergency exit. He’d have to be extra careful today since he didn’t have his usual balaclava or gloves, but he’d make do. Pulling out his knife and lockpick set from his boots, Hide set to work.

First he ran the knife around the edges of the door. An emergency exit on a building this new definitely had an alarm set to go off if the door opened, probably something triggered by the decrease in pressure when the door opened. If he could find it and maintain the pressure when he opened the door, he could prevent the alarm from sounding.

And bingo, right next to the handle.

Wedging the knife between the door and frame at an angle that would keep it there, Hide knelt down to pick the lock. The beauty of emergency exits was that they only had one lock; any deadbolts or internal locks that might get in the way of someone fleeing an imaginary fire were considered a safety hazard and therefore banned.

It took less than thirty seconds before Hide heard the fifth pin click and felt the lock turning. Hide stood, securing the knife against the door with one hand as he turned the handle and pulled it open with the other, holding his breath.

Silence.

Hide smirked at his success and removed the lockpick from the tumbler and slipped through the entrance, making sure to hold the knife steady against the door. Once inside he closed the door as much as he could before removing the pressure, pulling it shut behind him before the sensor could register the change in pressure.

Infiltration complete, Hide slid his tools back into their places, standing carefully still as his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the hallway. It took a few minutes, but once he became accustomed to the low light, Hide checked the area for motion detectors and cameras.

No cameras visible, but the two motion detectors inches away from his feet made Hide wince at how close he was to tripping them. He could take care of any accidental video footage later if he had to, but getting the cops called on him would be game over. Taking care to stay out of their range, Hide clung to the wall as he made his way deeper into the building, heading for the stairs up to the higher floors and the political offices.

The stairs were unmonitored and easy enough to climb up to the third floor, but a quick glance down the hallway revealed a video camera mounted on a swivel that monitored the junction he needed to pass through. Observing the pattern and keeping an eye on his watch, Hide figured he would have five seconds to get the thirty meters from the door to the blind spot under the camera without being seen. Easy enough.

The camera turned to face the opposite hall and Hide darted out of the stairwell, sprinting down the corridor until he was safely out of sight. Giving the newly visible hallway a quick once over for any other cameras he should be on the lookout for, Hide swore and pressed himself up a door, turning his head to face away from the camera down the hall as it rotated back to put him in view.

Great.

Cursing his lack of preparation, Hide gave up trying to stay off the video cameras. He’d just have to make an extra stop at the security center and erase the tapes before he left. Not too hard to do, but if someone noticed the tampering questions would be asked. Likely nothing would come of it since this was a low exposure job, but Hide hated making messes.

Keeping an eye out for motion detectors or anything else that might alert outside security to his presence, Hide hurried down the hall to ex-police-officer Nakamura’s campaign office. Testing the door and finding it unlocked, Hide entered the office and booted up the computer. The login screen appeared on the computer, and Hide typed in two passwords before finding the correct one - the wife’s full maiden name - and searching the list of hidden documents.

No flash drive today; his job on this one was a find and destroy. Someone, he wasn’t asking who, thought that the police commissioner had given his target a list of all suspected crooked officers in the force and offered him political backing in return for an investigation by the council if he got elected. It wasn’t one of the jobs Hide found morally satisfying, but a man had to look out for his own interests and it would be absurdly easy to talk a bent cop out of making an arrest with a few name drops if he ever did get caught.

Not that he planned on getting caught, but all evidence to the contrary Hide was a firm believer in contingency plans.

When his search failed to turn up any results, Hide rolled his eyes. If the client hadn’t requested he not leave any traces, he could have just uploaded a virus and corrupted all the data on the hard drive; it would have saved him so much time. Actually having to go through and _look_ for files was ridiculously old school and boring, but needs must so Hide steeled himself for the incredibly dull task ahead.

An hour and a half later, none of his scans had turned up any suspicious looking data files, and the manual search wasn’t going much better. Hide yawned, debating the feasibility of coming back in the morning before deciding against it.

A door slammed in the hallway.

Hide sat bolt upright in his chair, adrenaline jolting his mind back to full awareness. Hearing footsteps approaching the door, Hide quickly shut down the programs, wiping the file search history before cutting power to the computer. The footsteps reached the front of the door and Hide dove for the closet, hoping that whoever was out there wouldn’t search the room.

Just as he pulled the closet shut behind him Hide heard the office door swing open. Controlling his breathing and trying to calm his heartbeat, Hide focused on listening to what the interloper was doing.

The computer beeped and whirred to life and Hide breathed a little easier. A short string of keys, probably the password, followed by a hollow click of the mouse and a pause. So his unwelcome guest knew the password. That upped the chances of it being his target, but didn’t rule out the possibility of the person being another thief. The real question was whether or not they would be at cross purposes.

Several more short bursts of typing preceded a series of clicks, then silence. Then a chair creak. Hide grinned; definitely a hacker then, waiting for their program to run. He’d just have to sit tight until they left and then he could check the computer to see what they’d found.

Or what they’d erased.

Either way revealing himself would be a stupid move, so he had to stay quiet and out of sight until they left. Cursing himself for making a spur of the moment decision based on his _emotions_ to do this job now, Hide settled in to wait. Again. At least the closet didn’t smell like moldering cheese.

The other hacker apparently knew what they were looking for, because it wasn’t long at all before the fingers were back to work on the keyboard and Hide heard a humph of triumph. The keyboard clacked a few more times, then a pause followed by two clicks and the soft sound of a chair rolling on carpet.

The room was quiet for a few moments, then footsteps walked toward the exit, opening the door and slipping back into the hallway. Hide breathed a sigh of relief and waited.

And waited.

A while after the footsteps had disappeared down the hall, Hide emerged from the closet, making sure to straighten it up behind him before turning his attention to the computer. A quick scan of the hardware didn’t reveal anything noticeably out of place, so Hide pressed the power button and prayed.

The computer turned on without a hitch, so if they had installed a virus at least it wasn’t set to wipe everything on start up. The password hadn’t been changed, Hide noted with relief as he tapped his fingers against the desk and waited impatiently for the desktop to load.

Once the Windows logo appeared on the background, Hide went straight to the file directory. A few inquires later revealed the files he was looking for at the top of the recently searched list.

Hide tsked. Good intel, sloppy work.

Clicking on the files, Hide discovered that the other thief had indeed deleted them. On a hunch, he checked the file histories and sure enough, the files had been copied to a removable drive right before they’d been deleted.

Damn, that could get a little squirrely, depending on who had hired them. Still, Hide needed to make sure his own objective was accomplished and search the computer again to confirm that they’d gotten everything. Then he needed to clean up so that the target couldn’t pinpoint what had happened.

Sitting back and letting the search run, Hide opened up the hard drive cleaner. Entering the settings, he changed the regular maintenance to wipe the drive records daily during the lunch hour, knowing that was when it would most likely go unnoticed as politicians usually went campaigning but still left things running in the office.

The computer beeped, letting him know the search was done. Toggling back over to the results screen, Hide grinned at the lack of results. So the other hacker _did_ know what they were doing. Hide sincerely hoped that leaving the files at the top of the recently searched list had been a rookie mistake, because if the other hacker’s client had wanted Nakamura to know who had targeted him, Hide had probably just made himself another enemy.

As it was Hide had his job description, so he closed the search results and scrubbed the computer history for the time he had been in the room. The drive wiper would run in the afternoon, erasing the last traces of any tampering with the computer.

Satisfied with his work, Hide walked back over to the door, heading out into the main corridor in search of the security controls room. Security usually based itself in the center of the building or near the exits, and Hide would bet a cappuccino on this building being a case of the latter.

A quick check of the hallways surrounding the emergency exit he’d broken in through proved him right. Punching the air in victory and making a mental note to check the police station for nearby coffee shops for his reward drink, Hide headed over to the door.

With the lack of an alarm system on the door, the lock provided less of a challenge than the one on the emergency exit and Hide was inside in less than a minute. Leaving the lights off, Hide sat down in the control chair, scanning the monitors. Not seeing any signs of activity on any of the feeds, he set to work erasing himself from the records.

Rolling the data back to before he’d broken in, Hide watched to make sure nothing caught his eye. Copying the data for the empty half hour before he arrived, Hide set the speed to 16x and watched the tapes.

He appeared crouched in the corner of the screen sooner than he had expected. Checking his watch, Hide grimaced; he’d spent more time in here than he’d thought.

Making a note of the timestamp and camera identification of when he’d appeared, Hide typed in the security codes letting him replace the footage he was watching with the blank tape he’d saved. Slowing the playback to regular speed, Hide grimaced as he watched his on screen self swear and stand up, walking right out into the open in the middle of the hall.

Damn, that looked bad.

When Hide’s on screen counterpart disappeared into the office, he turned to check the other feeds. As expected, he couldn’t locate any footage from inside the target’s office; politicians tended to like to keep their secrets, well, secret.

Even if they did hire shitty security companies to do it.

Skipping the time he had been ineffectually searching the computer, Hide slowed the playback again around the time the interloper had come in. Watching the screens carefully, he noticed a flash of movement on one of the cameras from the top floor. Rewinding, he watched it again in a frame by frame play. Only three frames showed the figure, and in all three it appeared blurred, the quality of the camera insufficient to catch anything that could identify the suspect.

Hide shivered and thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t been caught in that closet. No human could possibly move that fast, and being surprised by ghouls while on a job was one of his least favorite pastimes.

A quick glance at the location where his co-thief had sped past the cameras showed that they had most likely come in through the roof. Hide grumbled under his breath, because _really_? Security here was shoddy enough that getting up to the _roof_ just to break in was overkill. Getting in through the front doors would have been totally feasible and much more practical for someone as well prepared as this guy.

Someone seriously needed to give them a lesson in expediency.

Keeping up his litany of unflattering comments about his fellow thief, Hide set about rewriting the footage from that camera as well. His client didn’t want the target to have any evidence of who had deleted the files, so Hide sighed and reasoned that it fell within his job description to make sure the target couldn’t identify anyone who’d been involved tonight. Grudgingly, Hide kept an eye on the rest of the screens, watching for the reappearance of the other thief. Sure enough the figure appeared a few seconds later, walking straight into view of the camera that had caught Hide. Then the figure turned, purposely slow in their movements, to stare right at the camera.

Hide gawped at the screen. A black rabbit mask looked straight into the camera, pausing for long enough to be sure the surveillance had gotten a clear shot. Which it had, and _damn_.

The _Black Rabbit_.

Hide didn’t know whether he should be flattered or scared. The Black Rabbit had a reputation for being one of the priciest thieves in Tokyo, not to mention that his style was more cat burglar and less hacker. He usually stole physical artifacts rather than immaterial data; at least he did as far as Hide’s sources could tell. But still, hiring him for a job of this size? A job Hide specifically took because it screamed _small time_ and _didn’t pay well_? And then making absolutely sure that he got caught on camera?

Something smelled fishy.

Regardless, Hide needed to get paid, and to do that he couldn’t let the target know who had erased the data, so he set about removing the Black Rabbit from the tapes. Besides, if the videos did get out and his client figured out Hide wasn’t the one to erase the data, they could justify not paying him, and he would most definitely be getting paid for this clusterfuck.

Keeping an eye out for anything unusual on the monitors, Hide waited silently for the Black Rabbit to reappear from the office. It happened sooner than he expected, which shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did. He must be horribly off his game not to remember that a few minutes hiding in a closet was tantamount to eternity when he’s actually there.

The Black Rabbit reemerged from the office and faced the camera for a good thirty seconds before walking straight down the hall. He appeared again on successive cameras heading out the front door. Then he pulled out a key, turned the lock, and walked straight out onto the street.

Wow.

Just wow.

Hide was almost impressed by the sheer amount of showboating the Black Rabbit had fit into his sixty seconds of screen time. Whoever had hired him definitely wanted to send a message. Hide briefly considered letting them; someone able to afford to hire the Black Rabbit and parade him around in front of security cameras like a show pony probably outranked his current client on the nastiness scale.

Then again, Hide liked getting paid. And seeing how he was already on the Daigo-kai’s shit list, Hide figured that pissing off one more group of high powered criminals would just be icing on the cake.

If they could track it back to him.

Who was he kidding, of course they could. They could probably squeeze it out of his current client, and setting someone up was as simple as putting them in the wrong place at the wrong time. At the rate he was going, he’d have to leave Tokyo and set up base somewhere else for a while.

Yeah right.

Still, nothing bothered Hide more than a job half done, so he set the film to overwrite all the Black Rabbit’s appearances. After he finished removing the ghoul’s presence from the tapes, Hide sat and waited his own reappearance from the office.

While he waited, Hide tried to come up with a theory as to why he was still breathing. Ghouls had an unnervingly good sense of smell, and could almost always tell when someone was in the room with them. Case in point: Kaneki catching him every time Hide stepped foot into his apartment. Nishio could even pinpoint Hide in a crowd when he put effort into it, even though he bitched about not being a bloodhound every time he had to do it.

So either the Black Rabbit had sub-par senses for a ghoul, or he didn’t care enough about the job to bother using any of his abilities.

Given the spectacle he’d made of himself for the cameras, Hide would bet on the latter. All his sources said the Black Rabbit was both ruthless and efficient, neither of which fit with what Hide was watching on the cameras.

Of course, it was entirely possible that there was a fake under the mask, but Hide doubted it. If that were the case the movement and taunts at the camera were meant as a challenge to the real Black Rabbit, and anyone willing to do that had to know that a job this size wouldn’t even get on his radar.

But assuming that Hide had seen the real Black Rabbit tonight and that he hadn’t cared about the job, the question still remained as to _who had the power to make the Black Rabbit do something he didn’t want to?_

It could be one of the more powerful yakuza groups. Maybe he owed them a favor or they were holding someone he cared about hostage or they were protecting his feeding grounds. Or maybe they offered him an obscene amount of money and he couldn’t turn it down.

Right. And maybe the sun would start rising in the west.

Hide didn’t know what to make of it. By all accounts, the Black Rabbit was a free agent with no real connections or motivation. Nishio had run across him once and described him as a loose cannon who participated in criminal activity as if it were a hobby rather than a job. That attitude pissed off Nishio a lot and Hide had found it funny at the time, but his instincts said that anyone who sent up red flags for Nishio should definitely be avoided.

Movement on one of the screens distracted Hide from his thoughts, and he watched himself walk down the hallway toward the control room. Typing in the overwrite commands, Hide watched in satisfaction as his image was replaced with empty hallways.

Adding an additional command for the system to continue recording blank tape for another fifteen minutes, Hide pushed away from the monitors and made his way over to the door. He’d already been in the building too long sitting and pondering the mysteries of crime overlords and ghouls that wouldn’t get him anywhere. What he needed was to get some perspective on the situation before he ran off half cocked and got himself caught in a trap.

Hide headed for the front door the Black Rabbit had so politely left open for him, confident that his program would erase any trace of his presence from the surveillance records. He passed through the doors without incident, wishing he could lock them behind him without looking suspicious. Hopefully whoever opened in the morning would just put it down to incompetence in the staff and wouldn’t connect it with a break in.

Unlikely, but a man could dream.

Shoving his hands in his pockets Hide made his way to the subway station, boarding a train to take him home. He’d had more than enough of the 7th ward for one day.

*   *   *   

Two days later found Hide enjoying his reward cappuccino with a book at a cafe half a block away from the 7th ward police station.

After he’d arrived home from his on-the-job run-in with the Black Rabbit, Hide had milked his network for information on Nakamura and anyone he might have pissed off during his time in the police. As far as Hide could tell though, the guy was clean. No backdoor deals, no excessive force on the job, no internal reprimands. Which, when combined with the list of dirty cops he probably planned to expose, made a lot of sense.

With nothing on Nakamura, the next logical step would be to investigate the cops on the list. The list Hide didn’t have. Which led to him camping out by the window of a coffee shop across from the police station, building a mental schedule of how often patrol cars came and went.

Since Nakamura no longer worked at the station and the list was current enough to have worried his clients, someone on the inside must have given it to him. So, logically, it followed that someone at the station still had the list.

Hide was going to get that list.

Not today though. He’d learned his lesson about jumping the gun on a job. Granted, he’d thought he already knew that lesson, but a refresher course never went amiss.

Hide reached for his cup as he observed two cars pulling out of the station lot, sirens wailing as they roared down the street. Draining the last of his cappuccino and setting the drink back down, Hide made a mental note of the time. So far he’d seen two patrols leave on the hour, so the next one probably wasn’t scheduled to leave for another half hour. It would be interesting to see if the emergency disrupted the schedule any.

Hide waited, making sure to turn the pages of his book every so often to give the impression that he was reading as he watched. Sure enough, the hour came and went without a single car pulling in or out of the lot.

Catching sight of his waitress out of the corner of his eye, Hide gave a mental sigh. It was probably time for him to buy another drink or head out, but he wanted to see when the next patrol left the station. Slouching down in his seat in an attempt to avoid detection, Hide resigned himself to purchasing another drink the next time the waitress managed to catch his eye; he couldn’t afford to be kicked out of such prime stake-out real estate for loitering.

Spotting movement on the road, Hide’s gaze landed on a cop car pulling back into the lot. He eyed the identification number on the side and recognized it as a car that had pulled out of the lot less than two hours earlier.

So much for sticking around longer, Hide thought as he stuffed his book back into his bag. While it was unlikely that a beat cop was paying enough attention to a cafe to notice the same customer there at the beginning and end of his route, Hide couldn’t afford to take any chances.

He pushed back his chair and stood to leave, double checking the money he left on the table to be sure he’d covered his bill. Once on the street Hide made sure that his stride was casual as he wandered along a circuitous route to Kaneki’s apartment. Hide wasn’t entirely sure of his welcome after the way Kaneki had vanished on him the last time, but he didn’t plan on letting a little awkwardness lose him his refuge.

Bypassing the she-devil at the front desk, Hide swung around the back of the building to climb the fire escape. The window locks slid open just as easily as they had the first time he had broken in, and Hide felt an unwarranted rush of relief at the knowledge that Kaneki hadn’t changed them to keep him out.

Carrying his shoes over to the door, Hide made his way into the kitchen. He could hear the water running through the pipes, which meant Kaneki was definitely home. And Hide definitely needed something more substantial than coffee to deal with talking to Kaneki if he planned on having this conversation right after he came out of the shower.

His food sat in the cupboard exactly where Kaneki had stashed it. Hide leaned forward, checking the labels and carefully assessing exactly which sort of junk food he felt like consuming. Eventually the potato chips won out, the idea of being able to crunch out his frustration on the delightfully salty food deciding it for him.

Grabbing his loot and closing the cabinet, Hide made his way out to the living area and flopped dramatically onto the couch. Ripping open his snack, Hide munched angrily on the salty chips and tried not to work himself up too much while he waited for Kaneki.

Just as Hide was about to start the third cycle of going over everything he wanted to tell Kaneki and calming himself down, the water shut off. Sitting up properly on the couch, Hide’s eyes snapped to the bathroom door as his pulse skyrocketed.

Then the door opened, and Hide felt his train of thought crash and burn.

Kaneki emerged from the bathroom with a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around his waist to catch the drops of water that slid down his chest. Hide knew he was staring but he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him.

Hot _damn_.

Kaneki took a deep breath and froze, eyes cutting to where Hide sat on the couch. Hide swore he saw a flash of surprise cross Kaneki’s face before he schooled it back into a blank mask, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against the wall in a way that ruined Hide’s ability to form coherent thoughts.

“I didn’t think you were coming back,” Kaneki said.

Hide struggled to remind himself that they had things to discuss. Important things like exactly why Kaneki had thought it was okay to leave a quasi-might-be-friend alone in his apartment with no warning. Things like what the hell was going on at the police station. Things like whether or not Kaneki could get him any intel on the ghouls who kept popping up on his jobs. Not things like how absurdly attractive Kaneki looked dripping wet with no shirt on. Hide could have guessed that. He bit down a little more viciously than strictly necessary on a chip, the sound echoing through the silence.

When Hide failed to respond, Kaneki pushed off the wall and shifted his weight back and forth like he was trying to decide if he should have this conversation or retreat to his room.

“You didn’t lock the door,” Kaneki said, his confused expression cluing Hide in to the fact that he must have thought that was an explanation for something. For what, Hide had no idea.

“I couldn’t find the key.”

That got him a raised an eyebrow. “I left it on the shelf by the door,” Kaneki said, his tone implying unflattering things about Hide’s intelligence.

“Maybe you should have said that in your _note_ ,” Hide replied testily, his irritation at the way the previous visit had ended flooding back in with a rush. “Maybe you also should have said something about how this area is a goddamn _hotspot_ for ghouls.”

That seemed to grab Kaneki’s attention, and he shifted his weight forward before stepping fully back into the shadows of the hallway. “Fine,” he said, voice tight and a frown forming over his features. “Give me a minute to change.”

Hide nodded, looking away before Kaneki turned to go into his room. Considering the best angle to approach this conversation, he remembered that Kimi said coffee always helped when Nishio got stressed, so he got up and made his way into the kitchen.

The kettle was easy enough to find, as it was the only appliance in sight, and Hide set it to boil on the stove. Next he pulled two mugs down from the shelf by the sink, grinning when he saw the white bunnies covering one of them.

Unfortunately the coffee cupboard contained just as much variety as it had the first time Hide had opened it looking for food, and Hide had no idea which blend would convey _I’m not actually that mad_ and _can we try this friend thing again_. He also had it on good authority that his coffee did not live up to the ghoulish palate, so Hide started searching the cupboard for any instant brands.

Sure enough, in the back behind ever other type of coffee imaginable was a canister of Blondie. Hide snorted as he read the label; he couldn’t believe he was crushing on someone who liked the same brand as Nishio. Still, instant coffee was virtually impossible to screw up, so Hide pulled the container down from the shelf and read the instructions on the back about how much to include in one serving.

Hide had barely gotten a spoonful of the instant coffee mix into the mugs before the kettle whistled on the stove. Hide picked it up, pouring water into the mugs until the liquid was level with the stain lines.

Taking a whiff of mixture, Hide smiled in satisfaction at the drinks. Turning off the stove and emptying the remnants of the kettle into the sink, he started his search for sugar. The third cupboard he opened revealed a small china container sitting next to the bag of sugar and creamer Hide had brought over earlier in the week.

Surprised that Kaneki had taken the time to rearrange some of his food, Hide felt himself smiling at the implications of the gesture. Even if things had been tense the last time Hide had been over, Kaneki had still taken the time to organize Hide’s food.

Hide reached into the cupboard and pulled down the sugar and creamer, putting three spoonfuls into his own coffee before adding the creamer.

A throat cleared from the kitchen entrance and Hide whirled around to see Kaneki leaning up against the wall, a ghost of a smile on his face. “I take mine with one cube,” he said, nodding to the china bowl Hide had taken from the cabinet.

Lifting the lid and dropping one of the brown cubes into the second cup, Hide offered it to Kaneki, grateful for his easy demeanor. Kaneki took it and wrapped both hands around it as he closed his eyes and inhaled the coffee fumes, lips quirking up at the corners when he recognized the smell.

“Instant?”

“I can’t really brew coffee,” Hide mumbled defensively, taking a sip from his cup to cover his blush.

“I could teach you.” Hide raised his eyebrows, watching for the slip in Kaneki’s expression that would tell him this was just a joke. When it didn’t come Hide carefully set his cup back down on the counter, meeting Kaneki’s gaze straight on.

“Seriously?”

“If you want.” Kaneki averted his eyes, and was that a blush?

Hide leaned closer to get a better view, and yep. There was a dusting of red across Kaneki’s cheekbones, so faint that he probably wouldn’t have been able to see it if Kaneki hadn’t had such a pale complexion.

Noticing Hide’s scrutiny, Kaneki frowned and raised his cup to cover his expression. Hide grinned, leaning back against the counter to savor his own cup.

“I’d love to, but not today,” Hide said eventually, watching Kaneki out of the corner of his eye to gauge his reaction. Kaneki nodded and stared into his cup, clearly disappointed that his overture had been declined. Hide felt an answering pang in his chest, but he really did need to find out about what was going on with Nakamura before it came back to bite him in the ass, and he tried not to mix business and pleasure when he could help it.

“Maybe I could take you out instead?”

It took Hide a moment to realize he had spoken. Apparently caffeine was bad for his brain-to-mouth filter, because hadn’t he just been thinking what a bad idea it would be to talk business on a date?

“Take me out,” Kaneki repeated suspiciously, eyeing Hide over the rim of his cup.

And for all that he _knew_ Kaneki was a ghoul and could probably rip him to shreds in seconds, the expression on his face was too pitiful to ignore. No one should respond to being asked out like that.

“Yup,” Hide replied, throwing caution to the winds. “Let’s go out. To talk business, but also to go out. It’s nice.”

Kaneki blinked dumbly at him, and Hide felt his heart seize with the realization that this was likely new territory to Kaneki. Being a ghoul - especially a ghoul who lived in an upstanding neighborhood - probably didn’t lend itself to having many close acquaintances. Kaneki had mentioned keeping up with his former co-workers before, but Hide was willing to bet he didn’t see them on a regular basis. And there was a big difference between _keeping up_ with someone and actually being their friend.

“There’s a nice shop down the road,” Hide said, pushing harder now that he had a purpose beyond talking shop. “You’ve probably been, but they have a pretty decent selection of roasts. I’m sure you could find something you like.”

It occurred to Hide almost as soon as the words left his mouth that Kaneki had _definitely_ been to the shop before. A small cafe less than three blocks from his building with a window pointed in exactly the right direction to keep an eye on the local law enforcement? No way in hell a ghoul could have passed that up.

From the way his eyes had lit up, Kaneki had also figured out which cafe Hide was referring to. “You mean the coffeehouse across from the police station, don’t you?”

Hide might have blushed a little at being caught out, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily. “They have good coffee,” he defended.

Kaneki’s lips twitched up again, then they curled into a full blown smile. “They do,” he agreed with a laugh in his voice. “Not that I’d trust you to be able to tell.”

“So will you go with me?” Hide asked, trying to keep himself from sounding like a middle school student asking out his first crush.

Kaneki arched an eyebrow and pointedly raised his coffee cup. Hide waved him off. “Finish first, obviously, but don’t pretend you can’t drink another cup. Or two, or three. I’ve seen what you guys can eat in one sitting, and two cups of coffee is nothing compared to that.”

“You’ve seen someone eat?” Kaneki asked. He reeled back, blinking as though he were surprised the words had come out of his mouth.

Hide wasn’t sure if Kaneki’s reaction meant watching ghouls eat or knowing portion sizes was a breach of etiquette, so he answered honestly. “Not really. I’ve done some... um, food acquisition? For a friend, and he gave me an unnecessarily detailed spiel about the hows and whys.”

“Oh,” Kaneki replied, still looking a little shell shocked at Hide’s admission. “I guess I could have another cup.”

“Great,” Hide said with a grin. “We’ll head over whenever you’re ready then.”

Kaneki hummed happily and sipped at his coffee as if there were no place he’d rather be. Hide tried not to smile at how adorable Kaneki looked when he was comfortable, but the way Kaneki’s lips kept twitching up around the edges of his coffee mug told him he wasn’t very successful.

Unfortunately, that also meant that Kaneki took his sweet time finishing his coffee. When he finally emptied and rinsed the cup, Hide had started to fidget with the need to be doing something.

“Is there anything you need to grab before we leave?” Hide asked, trying to keep himself from sounding impatient.

Kaneki paused by the sink, staring blankly at the wall for a moment before straightening up and turning to face Hide. “Yeah, give me a minute.” Hide stepped out of the doorway to let Kaneki pass, watching curiously as he disappeared into his room. A few moments later Kaneki reemerged, a medical eyepatch covering his left eye.

Giving the apartment a final once over, Kaneki nodded in satisfaction and headed to the door. “Okay, let’s go.”

Hide followed mutely behind him, mind ruminating on the eyepatch. He doubted it was for actual blindness; Hide would have noticed _something_ by now if that were the case. And it wasn’t a fashion statement either, not with a medical patch. But Kaneki had still felt like he needed it before going outside, even though he’d had to think about it before he remembered. Or maybe he had remembered and just wasn’t sure if he should wear it?

Doing his best to shrug it off, Hide followed Kaneki down the street toward the cafe. If Kaneki wanted him to know about the eyepatch, he’d say something. If not, he probably had the means to bury it so deep Hide would never find out.

“Do you want to sit by the window?” Kaneki asked, his voice dragging Hide back into reality.

He took a moment to glance around at the open tables before answering. “Yeah, the one farthest from the door, if that’s okay.”

Kaneki nodded and led the way, situating himself with his back to the glass. His lips twitched like he was stifling a grin when Hide pulled the other chair to the side so he’d have a better view out the window. The waitress came over and they ordered, cappuccino for Hide and coffee - black - for Kaneki.

“I see I was right about you not choosing this establishment for their coffee,” Kaneki commented once their waitress had left the table.

“What can I say? It’s a beautiful location.” Hide shrugged and crossed his arms over the table, leaning forward to look up at Kaneki.

Snorting, Kaneki slouched back in his chair and rolled his eyes. “Only if you’re into looking at law enforcement for suspiciously long periods of time.”

“Isn’t everyone?” Hide asked in a mock innocent tone. Kaneki raised an eyebrow which Hide ignored. “But I do actually need to know. This is supposed to be a quiet ward and the job was supposed to be simple.”

“This ward isn’t supposed to have any jobs in it,” Kaneki said bitterly, frowning intently at the table.

Curious to hear that, since he’d heard of more than a few big paydays in the 7th ward over the years, Hide leaned forward. “You’ve got some really shitty intel then.”

Kaneki glared, then huffed and looked away. “There _weren’t_ any big jobs in the area when I moved in.”

“Uh huh.” Hide didn’t believe a word of that. He’d heard about the shit that went down in the 7th ward a little over a year ago, even if it wasn’t public news. A ghoul restaurant getting wiped off the map wasn’t exactly small time news.

Ignoring Hide’s obvious disbelief, Kaneki continued. “I’m not sure what’s on now though; everything was quiet until two days ago and now there’s an uproar surrounding Nakamura’s campaign.”

“I take it your politicians usually aren’t crooked,” Hide asked, fishing to see if Kaneki would correct him.

The sharp glance Kaneki sent his way said that he knew exactly what Hide was doing. Hide crossed his arms and stretched out on the table, raising his eyebrows at Kaneki in a challenge.

Kaneki didn’t take the bait, snorting and slouching back into his chair. “It hardly matters though.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Hide agreed quietly. He’d passed up his fair share of frame jobs on politicians; he knew that if there was no dirt to be dug up it could just as easily be fabricated. Just because he tended to turn down those jobs didn’t mean they weren’t getting done.

They shared a moment of mutual silence for all the good people who’d been ruined by the whims of the underworld before Hide spoke again. “I need to get in and take a look.”

Not asking any questions, Kaneki nodded. “What do you need to know?”

Hide blew out his breath, thunking his forehead down on his crossed arms. “Everything,” he muttered unintelligibly to the table. Raising his head, he rephrased. “What are their patrols like, and anything about their internal security.”

“I’ve never had a reason to go in, so I don’t have anything about on-premise security,” Kaneki mused, staring off into space as he spoke, “but I’ve heard that it’s not too tight if you don’t go in the front entrance. An acquaintance of mine went in once to do recon, but they were made and had to bail before they got past the waiting area.”

“Lovely,” Hide said, imagining the sort of security that would have to be in place for one of _Kaneki’s_ acquaintances to have trouble. “Think I could get in if I sold them a story?”

“You’d probably have better luck than they did,” Kaneki admitted, “especially with tension as high as it is now. Information is valuable.”

“I can do that,” Hide said, relishing the way Kaneki nodded in agreement maybe a little too much. “What about patrols? I don’t want to be stuck in there with the entire police force if things go belly up.”

“Patrols are every hour unless there’s an emergency,” Kaneki said, confirming what Hide already knew “The number that go out depends on the emergency.”

Hide raised an eyebrow. “Obviously. I assume they also call off routine patrols if they’re in the area?”

“As far as I can tell,” Kaneki agreed. “It’s a long shot though, getting something out of a station.”

“You take me for an idiot?” Hide scoffed, rearranging himself so that he was seated properly in his chair as their waitress came back over with the coffee. He smiled and thanked her before looking back at Kaneki, whose face was twisted up into an expression just a shade away from being a frown.

“Hey,” Hide said more gently, cupping his hands around his drink and catching Kaneki’s eye. “I know how to be careful. Promise.”

“If you say so,” Kaneki replied dubiously, hiding his expression by taking a sip of his coffee.

Hide gave a genuine smile as he watched, enjoying the way Kaneki’s forehead smoothed out as he took in the aroma of the freshly brewed coffee. He was beginning to get a niggling suspicion that Kaneki used coffee to decompress from difficult days, and Hide planned to take advantage of that as often as possible. Maybe he could talk Nishio into teaching him how to make coffee well enough that he’d be able to make Kaneki something that wasn’t instant.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Hide said softly, raising his own cup to take a drink as he immersed himself in the shop’s amiable atmosphere. If he hadn’t been listening so closely he might have missed it when Kaneki spoke.

“I certainly hope not.”

*   *   *

Hide was still riding on his high from the not-date with Kaneki at the cafe when he returned to the 7th ward to con his way into the police station the next day. Normally he preferred to wait a little longer between the reconnaissance and breaking in, but time was a luxury he couldn’t afford right now.

For his theatrical debut in the 7th ward Hide had styled himself as a young professional straight out of college. His suit was freshly pressed and his tie proudly displayed a double Windsor, which the internet helpfully informed him was both professional and easy to tie. He’d even brought a leather briefcase and donned a tidy black wig to cover up his blond hair.

As he walked into the station Hide let himself fall into the role of his appearance, confidently approaching the front desk and signaling for the attention of the officer on duty.

“Hello,” Hide said with a smile, speaking as soon as he had the officer’s attention. “I noticed when I was walking by the other day that you have a poster up asking for information about a break in at Nakamura-san’s campaign office. I saw something there three days ago that might be useful. Could I make a statement?”

“Let me see who’s available and we’ll get you through right away, sir,” the officer replied, turning away from Hide to check her computer. Hide waited patiently as she clicked through a series of spreadsheets before settling on one that looked like a calendar.

“Okay, I’ve got someone available. Can you give me a name for the record?”

“Yamamoto Taka,” Hide replied, flashing her a fake ID with a common enough name that it would be difficult to track down if he got found out.

Hide waited as she typed the name into her computer. “All right,” she said, standing up and walking around the counter to Hide. “I’ll show you to the briefing area and Officer Sugimoto will be over shortly to take your statement.”

“Thank you,” Hide said. He followed her deeper into the station, down a hallway and past an open row of desks before she led him to a lounge area where several chairs were arranged around a low coffee table.

“He’ll be over in just a moment,” she said, indicating that Hide should sit.

Giving her a congenial smile as she left, Hide sat in one of the chairs to wait. His seat afforded him a good view of the desks they had passed on their way over, and Hide took advantage of the opportunity to subtly watch the goings on of the station.

Three men were sitting at their desks filing paperwork, and two more were answering phones. Four desks were unoccupied, although the random papers scattered over them implied that their owners were merely occupied elsewhere in the building. But what caught Hide’s eye was one desk near the middle of the room, paperwork stacked in organizational trays and not a paperclip out of place.

As he watched a man strode up to the desk Hide had been eyeing and sat down, minutely shifting the mouse to bring his screen back up. Hide looked away before he could be caught staring, knowing exactly which desk he would be aiming for tonight. Someone with that level of organization probably had the dedication and the know-how to put together a list like the one at Nakamura’s office, and if security was as tight as Kaneki had implied, he’d only get one shot.

Before he had time to start visualizing the path he would need to take to get in and out without being seen, Hide spotted an approaching officer. Figuring this was Sugimoto, Hide rose out of his seat to greet him.

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” Hide said formally, acknowledging the officer with a friendly smile.

“It’s no problem at all,” Sugimoto replied, gesturing for Hide to have a seat. “I’m Officer Sugimoto, I’ll be taking your statement regarding what you saw at Nakamura-san’s office building.”

Hide nodded at the expected confirmation of identity, leaning forward in the chair to assert himself as he began to speak.

“I was headed home from work two nights ago when I saw someone walk out the front of the campaign building. I know that the campaign managers are busy right now and probably pulling long hours with the elections just around the corner, so I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back I do remember that all the lights inside the building were off. Shouldn’t the lights be on if people are still in the building?”

“They should,” Sugimoto agreed amiably, pen scratching against paper as he took notes on what Hide said. “Could you tell me about what time you saw the person exiting the building, Yamamoto-san?”

“I left work around 9 that night,” Hide mused, pretending to think about the intricacies of his fictional day at the office. “I would have passed by the campaign building half an hour later, so I would have seen them at 9:30.”

“9:30,” Sugimoto repeated dutifully. “Was there anything in particular that stood out to you about the individual in question? Like what they were wearing or how quickly they were moving?”

“Not really, no,” Hide said, lowering his gaze and shaking his head as though he were ashamed of his negligence. “They were wearing dark clothes, so I didn’t see any defining characteristics. They were moving fairly fast though; they didn’t stop to lock the doors behind them.”

More scratching on the paper. “Do you think that the individual might have had an accomplice or someone they left the building unlocked for?”

"I don’t know,” Hide said, not having to force the agonized lilt to his voice this time. His cover story didn’t allow him the luxury of ruling out any accomplices, so there was still a slight possibility the police could uncover his own involvement in the heist if they dug deep enough.

Sugimoto nodded at his comment, oblivious to Hide’s conflict of interest. “Is there anything else you would like to put on the record, Yamamoto-san?”

Hide gave himself a second to gather his thoughts before replying. “No, I think I’ve told you everything I remember,” he paused for a moment as if thinking over the events of that night. “Should I be worried that I was spotted?”

“Do you have reason to believe you were seen?” Sugimoto asked gently. This guy was good, Hide thought distantly as he pretended to consider the question; he could almost feel soothing waves emanating off of Sugimoto’s person. This ability to reassure people probably got Sugimoto stuck taking statements from the general public a lot, which was good for Hide. The more faces Sugimoto saw a day, the less likely he would be to remember Hide’s in particular.

“No,” Hide said, letting himself relax and giving Sugimoto a relieved smile.

The officer smiled back, gesturing for him to stand up. “Thank you for your time today, Yamamoto-san,” he said when he left Hide at the reception desk. “I hope you’ll come back if anything else comes up.”

“Of course,” Hide replied automatically, trying to decide if Sugimoto’s parting comment was a genuine offer or if he knew Hide was hiding something.

He chewed on the idea as he followed the motions of leaving, checking in briefly with the officer at reception to be sure there was nothing else he needed to do before heading out. By the time Hide made it out onto the street he’d decided that Sugimoto’s request had been the real deal; he had been far too relaxed around Hide for someone who had suspicious about Hide’s intentions.

Pointing himself in the direction of Kaneki’s apartment, Hide let himself celebrate a job well done. He’d gotten in and out of the police station without raising any red flags _and_ he’d acquired a target for the job later that evening. Short of having the list dropped in his lap, he couldn’t have asked for a more successful stake out.

Hide ducked around the back of Kaneki’s building, not wanting to deal with the receptionist while wearing a disguise. Even if she did let him in he’d be drawing way more attention than either he or Kaneki wanted. Unfortunately, that meant Hide had to get onto the fire escape while carrying a bag and desperately trying not to get any stains or rips in his suit.

It took several tries, but Hide managed to wriggle his way onto the bottom landing without too much difficulty. He stood up and took stock of himself, dusting off the suit and examining it with a critical eye before deciding it could still pass as clean. Well, clean enough.

Once he reached the fifth floor, Hide had to remind himself to unlock the window before he tried to open it. Sliding the window open, Hide stuck his head in and looked around before seating himself on the sill.

“Kaneki?” Hide called out, slipping off his shoes and walking over to the front door to set them down. “I need to use your bathroom to change.”

No answer.

“Kaneki?”

“That’s a rather impressive getup,” Kaneki commented from somewhere behind Hide. He whirled, trying to identify the source of the sound. “I wouldn’t have recognized you if you hadn’t said anything.”

“Thanks,” Hide said, spinning as he searched the room for where Kaneki might be hiding. “Where are you?”

“Right here,” Kaneki said softly right beside his ear.

“ _Holy shit_ , don’t _do_ that to me,” Hide said, desperately trying to keep his voice from squeaking as he turned to face Kaneki. “That is _not_ good for my health. I have a _job_ tonight, I can’t die of a heart attack yet.”

“Sorry,” Kaneki replied, not sounding the least bit remorseful. Hide glared at him in disapproval, about ninety percent sure that the way Kaneki’s lip twitched up under his scrutiny wasn’t a muscle spasm.

“You needed to use my bathroom?” Kaneki prompted, and yeah, no way Hide could mistake that tone for anything but amused.

Hide decided to forgo any comments he could make about Kaneki’s inappropriate welcoming techniques and cut to the chase. “Yeah, I really need to get out of this monkey suit.”

“Bathroom’s in the back hall. I’m sure you know where,” Kaneki said with a nod in toward said hallway, turning to the kitchen as he spoke. “I’ll have coffee ready when you get out.”

“Three sugars and a spoonful of creamer in mine?” Hide said hopefully, watching as Kaneki disappeared behind the kitchen divider.

Kaneki’s reply was muffled by the wall, but his tone conveyed his opinion on Hide’s request just fine. “If you want to rot your teeth out, you can do it yourself.”

Hide grinned as he felt the friendly atmosphere settle around them, heading over to the bathroom to change. He started by yanking off the wig and running his fingers through his hair, letting out a sigh of relief as the cool air filtered through to his scalp. Bending down, Hide pulled his work clothes out of the briefcase and set them on the counter. Getting his suit off took longer than he liked since he had to fold it properly to make sure it wouldn’t wrinkle or crease when he stashed it in the briefcase. He’d probably still have to wash it before he wore it again, but at least he wouldn’t have to deal with wrinkles.

When he finished Hide stood up and glanced at mirror, grinning at his reflection. Running his hand through his hair one last time, Hide opened the door and meandered through the apartment to the kitchen.

Kaneki leaned up against the counter when he came in, already holding a steaming cup of coffee. A second cup and Hide’s bag of sugar and creamer sat on the hardtop next to him, and he scooted over to make room.

“Thanks,” Hide said, adding a bit of creamer and three generous spoonfuls of sugar into his cup and stirring.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Hide let out a slightly surprised sound at the taste. The last time he’d had one of Kaneki’s brews, he’d been understandably distracted by the brewing process. Now that he was able to focus on the flavor, Hide understood why Kankei had so proud about his training at the cafe. His coffee was good. Hide was hardly a connoisseur, but even he could tell there was something about Kaneki’s coffee that tasted different.

“This is really good,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound quite as awestruck as he felt. “Do you think I could cash in on that offer to teach me?”

Kaneki eyed him from over the top of his cup, and Hide thought that the color in his cheeks might be from more than just the heat of the coffee steam. “If you want, that is,” Hide said when Kaneki didn’t respond, feeling oddly flat footed.

“No,” Kaneki said instantly, voice louder than strictly necessary. “I mean, I know I offered, but I’ve never taught anyone before.”

“Oh,” Hide said, relaxing now that he had regained his balance and grinning openly at Kaneki. “Then I get to be your first student! Teach me, sensei!”

At that, Kaneki did turn an absolutely adorable shade of red. Hide laughed happily and took a sip from his cup. “Or not, whatever works for you. But you have no idea how satisfying it would be to be able to brew a better cup than the ghouls I work with. I might actually get some respect.”

Kaneki raised an eyebrow Hide’s last statement, which he couldn’t really argue with. Even if he could managed to make the best cup of coffee Nishio ever tasted in his life, he’d never be able to live down the time he’d tried to make coffee with unroasted beans. Still, the eyebrow required an answer.

“I didn’t say it would be a lot of respect. Just a little. A tiny bit. Hell, I’d settle for not getting laughed at every time I suggest a cafe.”

“I’m not sure I can help with improving your palate,” Kaneki deadpanned, but Hide was on to him. The corners of his mouth were doing that thing where they twitched upward; he might as well be rolling on the floor laughing for all that he wasn’t hiding his amusement.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Hide said, rolling his eyes good naturally. “So are you going to teach me or not.”

“If you insist,” Kaneki said, pushing off of the counter and setting his cup down. “Since you made instant last time you were here, is it safe to assume that you can boil water?”

“I can even do it without burning the kettle,” Hide said sarcastically. “It’s everything else I have trouble with.”

A considering look crossed Kaneki’s face, then he moved slightly to the right and opened the cupboard, reaching up and taking something off the bottom shelf. “This,” he said, turning back to Hide and holding out the device, “is a grinder. It grinds the beans.”

It was Hide’s turn to raise an unimpressed eyebrow, and he did it with all the grace and disdain he had learned from spending the last two years around Nishio. But Hide was either terrible at mimicking Nishio’s expressions or Kaneki had built up an immunity to judgmental looks, because he continued on unperturbed.

“Before you use it, you need to know how fine to grind your beans and the amount of beans you need in order to make your coffee. More beans and finer grinds lead to stronger coffee, but not all filters can handle the size of the finer ground beans, which will lead to grinds in your cup.”

“So what’s good?” Hide prompted, hoping Kaneki would give him a concrete method that worked most of the time and not some theoretical concept that required Hide to actually _understand_ the intricacies of coffee flavor.

“It depends,” Kaneki said, and Hide nearly dropped his head into his hands and groaned. It was only the manners his mother had drilled into him that stopped him, and even then it was a near thing.

“It depends,” Kaneki said again, his voice brimming with suppressed amusement at Hide’s expense, “on the type of filter and method of brewing you’re planning on using. I use a high quality filter with a pourover cone, so I use a medium-fine grind.”

Hide watched dumbly as Kaneki continued to explain the mechanics of measuring the beans and how to properly pour the water over the grinds once they were in the filter. By the time he’d finished his speech, Hide didn’t feel any more confident about the prospect of brewing coffee than he had before.

“Do you think you could walk me through it while I try it?” he asked tentatively, hoping he wouldn’t waste any of Kaneki’s supplies by accident.

“Sure,” Kaneki replied easily, turning back to the cupboard and rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. “We can use this, it’s an easy blend to start with.”

Hide eyed the Indonesian beans, thinking that Kaneki had probably picked them for their relatively low price rather than for their quality of taste, but refrained from making the observation out loud.

“Okay,” Hide said, pushing up his sleeves and opening the bag. “First I measure out... how much?”

“For this cup, use thirty grams,” Kaneki instructed, pushing the small scale closer to Hide.

“Thirty grams,” Hide repeated to himself, setting up the scale and measuring out the correct amount of beans. “Then grind them?”

“Medium-fine,” Kaneki prompted, nodding when Hide looked to him for confirmation.

“Medium-fine,” the grinder whirred to life, momentarily drowning out all the other sounds in the kitchen. “Then put them in the filter, and put the filter in the funnel.”

Hide glanced at Kaneki out of the corner of his eye, checking his reaction to Hide’s work so far. He had situated himself a few feet behind Hide, watching closely as he tried to replicate Kaneki’s instructions.

“Now I need to pour the water,” Hide murmured to himself as he reached for the kettle Kaneki had left on the stove.

“Don’t forget to let it bloom,” Kaneki said helpfully from behind him. Hide refrained from expressing his opinion on what coffee connoisseurs apparently called a bloom. Coffee did not bloom; it bubbled. But far be it from him to tell ghouls what words they could and could not use.

“For thirty seconds,” Hide agreed, pouring in just enough water to cover the coffee and watching it froth up as it wet the grounds before sinking down into the cup below. “Then steadily pour the rest of the water through.”

“Make sure to pour over all of the grounds equally,” Kaneki instructed.

Hide wasn’t entirely sure what that meant and still hadn’t been entirely sure when Kaneki had demonstrated it for him, so he just did his best to make sure none of the grounds got the chance to dry out.

“Stop,” Kaneki said suddenly, causing Hide to jerk the kettle abruptly away from the cone. “The cup will overflow if you put in any more.”

Setting the kettle back down on the stove Hide watched as the last of the water percolated through the coffee, filling the cup beneath almost to the brim. Gently moving him out of the way, Kaneki stepped in and removed the cone from above the cup, disposing of the used grounds without spill a drop on the floor.

Hide leaned over and smelled his creation, taking in the smooth scent of fresh coffee. Carefully not to spill any as he picked up the cup, he added the sugar and creamer and took his first sip.

Kaneki cracked a smile as he watched, and Hide knew his face must be twisted up in some sort of disgusted configuration, but surely it wasn’t _that_ funny. It wasn’t even that his coffee was _bad_ , per se, just that something was _off_ about it. It tasted just a little different than Kaneki’s had, but that little bit was enough to make it go from great to meh.

Still, meh coffee was better than he usually managed, so he must have done something right.

“It doesn’t taste like yours,” Hide said, stating the obvious in case Kaneki had any suggestions.

“It takes practice,” Kaneki said fondly from where he was washing his cup in the sink. “You’ll get it eventually.”

“You’ll let me practice on your stuff?” Hide asked hopefully. It wasn’t that he didn’t have coffee at home, but he didn’t have anything nearly as fancy as Kaneki and he had a feeling the instructions he’d gotten were tool-specific. Also it would give him an excuse to come back and hang out, which was always a plus.

“Only if you promise not to make me drink it until you’ve got it perfect,” Kaneki said, reaching out to take the cup from Hide.

“No problem,” Hide said with a laugh, passing over the cup. “I feel like I’ve made a mess. Is there anything I can do to help clean up?”

“No, I’ll get it,” Kaneki said, rinsing out Hide’s cup and opening the dishwasher. Hide stared at the number of plates and utensils covering the bottom layer along with the coffee cups that littered the top.

“What?” Kaneki said, noticing Hide’s scrutiny. “You think I don’t use plates and bowls like everyone else?”

“I guess I just never thought about it.”

“Kind of like you never thought about good literature?” Kaneki teased. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the way you fell asleep on my favorite book.”

“Sorry?” Hide said, the word coming out as more of a question than a statement. “You like stuff that’s incomprehensible to normal people.”

“Maybe you can find something else that’s more to your taste then?” Kaneki suggested, setting the cup in the top rack of the dishwasher. “I have a fairly good selection out on the shelves, go see if you can find something that won’t put you to sleep before your job tonight.”

Hide knew a dismissal when he heard one, so he made his way over to the giant bookshelf that covered the wall next to the couch. Scanning the titles, he looked for a familiar author or genre, feeling impressed and a little intimidated by the range of works. Kaneki really hadn’t been kidding about having a good selection.

Eventually Hide settled for rereading a translation of _The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde_ , figuring that he might as well drop Kaneki a hint about his work identity. They were getting close enough that it didn’t feel like he was betraying his instincts to do it, and Hide usually did okay when he followed his gut on these things.

Hide looked up when Kaneki came into the room a few minutes later, casting a quick glance in Hide’s direction before picking up a book from the end table and relaxing into the chair. When Kaneki didn’t move from his seat, Hide let himself sink back into the couch and immersed himself in the book.

They stayed in companionable silence until Hide started to get the itch beneath his skin that told him it was time to leave. He closed the book and stood up quietly, grabbing what he needed of his gear and making his way over to the window.

“You’re leaving the suit here, right?” Kaneki said from behind him.

“Yeah, unless that’s a problem?” Hide replied, stepping out the window and turning to lean his forearms against the sill.

“No. Just make sure you’re back to pick it up.”

“I can do that, yeah,” Hide said softly, hearing the unspoken _be careful_ in Kaneki’s words.

Kaneki didn’t reply as Hide started down the fire escape, although he felt Kaneki’s eyes on him until he reached the ground. Glancing up, Hide caught a glimpse of the fifth story window sliding shut and had to duck his head to hide the soft smile that spread over his face.

Letting the knowledge that Kaneki cared warm him as he went along, Hide made his way back to the police station. He made an effort to move more inconspicuously now that he was on a job, sticking mostly to the lengthening shadows next to buildings and keeping pace with the people around him.

He walked straight past the station, going a block further than he needed to before doubling back and slipping into the shadows beside the building. Checking to make sure no one was watching, he made his way along the wall toward a back window. The window he was aiming for belonged to a corner office and overlooked the back of the squad car parking lot. Not much of a view, but a corner office was a corner office, and corner office inhabitants liked their privacy and rarely worked this long past standard hours.

The surveillance Hide had done two days ago combined with his contact’s information had confirmed that this particular corner office had a combination of minimal outside security and an owner who never failed to leave the building later than seven o’clock. Hopping up onto the window ledge and scanning the office, Hide found that his information had been accurate; everything appeared suitably shut down and tidied away for the end of the day.

Now for the window.

Although they were double hung, the police station windows weren’t greased up and waiting for the right knife to slide in and open them like the one at Kaneki’s apartment. Hide felt around the window, testing for weak points he could exploit and looking for anything that might be a major flaw.

He smiled when he saw it.

The seals along the window pane were intact and the locks looked rusted in place, but the humidity and lack of upkeep on the window had caused the two halves of the window to warp away from each other. Pushing gently against the upper pane right above the joint, Hide felt just the slightest amount of give. Pulling out his knives and clamps, he set to work.

Sliding the knives into the window joint and prying the two halves apart to disengage the locks didn’t take much effort. Hide grinned at his work. He’d come in expecting to have to remove the window panes; a long and tedious process that he’d never quite managed to perfect and absolutely _hated_ doing.

He’d have to remember to send building maintenance a fruit basket when this was over.

After separating the locks, the next step was sliding the window open. Setting two of his more sturdy knives underneath the bottom of the window, Hide tried to lever it up.

The window creaked a little, but didn’t move.

Hide tried again, using a little more force this time. Still nothing.

Swearing under his breath, Hide adjusted his stance and prepared to try again. This time, he dropped all his weight onto the ends of the knives, letting himself fall to the ground when he felt his support give.

The window shot open, leaving an empty space just large enough for Hide to shimmy his way into the office. Once inside he lowered the window behind him, leaving it cracked so he didn’t have to deal with turning the rusty locks.

Hide walked over to the door, pausing briefly to peer out the window to check that no one was coming. There might only be a skeleton crew here on the late shift on a week night, but a skeleton crew could still catch him in the act if he wasn’t careful.

Unlocking the door, Hide slipped out into the hallway and made his way to the desk he had picked earlier as his primary point of attack. The motion detectors along the walls were relatively simple to avoid, as were the security cameras mounted by the stairwells as he made his way down the hall. Kaneki’s contact had been completely right; now that he was inside the building security was a cakewalk. It was so easy Hide almost felt bad about it.

Okay, that was a lie. Hide loved easy jobs, and if everywhere he broke into went this smoothly, he might even be able to build up a retirement plan.

Assuming, of course, that he managed to get out of his current yakuza problem intact.

Hide ducked into a doorway as a policeman turned the corner in front of him, waiting patiently until he passed by. Hurrying down the corridor, Hide entered the room he’d been interviewed in from the back, double checking to make sure no one was on duty at the desks he’d scoped out earlier before making his way to the middle of the row.

Booting up the computer, Hide took a moment to look at the desk. It was just as clean as it had been when he’d pegged it as his target; trays organized with incoming and outgoing paperwork and separate holders for pencils, pens, and dry erase markers.

It was kind of disgusting.

The computer beeped, letting Hide know that it was ready for his input. Since he didn’t know whose desk he had taken over, let alone their username and password, Hide started working his way through the generic combinations that would get him in under a maintenance account. His second guess let him in with the winning combination of _admin_ and _password_. Hide rolled his eyes and tried not to think too hard about what the simplicity of hacking into the system said about the competence of people in his government.

Once into the system, entering the command prompt and sneaking his way into the computer’s files was a cinch. Hide set up a search for files related to staffing issues and hidden memos and sat back to wait for the results.

The program gave him five results, beeping quietly to let him know it was done. Three of them Hide dismissed without even opening, the dates on the files too old to have any relevance to the current issues plaguing him or the 7th ward. Of the other two, one was password protected and one was not. Grinning at his luck, Hide combed the computer’s internal records to find the password and opened the protected file.

His first thought on opening the file was that he’d made a mistake in picking this desk. It opened as a short document containing an internal memo, not the list of dirty cops he was looking for. Still, protected files contained some type of confidential information, and Hide’s instincts wouldn’t let him pass it up.

 

> _TO: Officer Kagome, Fraud Investigations, Unit 10_  
>  _FROM: Officer Saito, Traffic Regulation, Unit 26_  
>  _SUBJECT: Acquisitions_  
>  _The boss has given the agreement a green light with the confirmation that the Black Rabbit has successfully removed the package from the politician’s hands. Internal affairs have traced and dealt with the origins of the package, and the MAR is free to move forward with business._

Hide’s eyes boggled as he read the message, and he had to take a minute to calm down before he went back and reread it.

 _MAR_ was the underworld’s shorthand for Inagawa-kai, one of the largest yakuza groups in Japan. The letters were taken from the nickname of an infamous member, so the abbreviation wouldn’t be widely used by the law enforcement. Hide blinked again and stared at the screen in shock as it finally set in that he’d just stumbled across a message between two yakuza members stationed with the police.

This was so much better than finding a list of bent cops.

So much better primarily because the Inagawa-kai and Daigo-kai were currently at odds with each other over a minor territory dispute in the 18th ward, which Hide could exploit.

Floating on a cloud of glee Hide began the process of erasing his presence from the computer, formulating plans about how to use his new information. If the Inagawa-kai were satisfied with the job the Black Rabbit had done for them - the job where Hide had crossed paths with the Black Rabbit - then they weren’t looking for Hide. They weren’t looking for him, _and_ they had incentive to keep the Daigo-kai off their territory, which included all of the 7th ward.

The conclusion? The 7th ward was safe for Hide to work in, and he didn’t even have to worry about the Daigo-kai offing him on a job because the Daigo-kai would be _way_ more concerned about not offending the Inagawa-kai than they were about killing him.

God, Hide loved yakuza politics.

Shutting down the computer, Hide made his way back to his escape route. Returning to the corner office proved to be even less difficult than infiltrating had been, and Hide was outside lowering the window back into place less than six minutes after shutting down the computer.

Hopping off the window ledge, Hide ducked into an alley and meandered his way back onto the main street, keeping his head down and letting the flow of people surround him and crowd him toward the subway station that would take him home.

There was no question in his mind that he’d be back soon. The 7th ward now had the promise of safety as well as Kaneki to lure him back, and that was just too good to pass up. Still, it was too late for sociable visiting hours and Kaneki probably had his own appointments to keep, so Hide would have to pick up his suit and briefcase another time.

But Hide knew that the suit was just an excuse. He’d come back to visit Kaneki one way or another, and he found himself feeling rather good about the knowledge that he’d be welcome when he came back.

*   *   *

Unfortunately, Hide didn’t make it back to the 7th ward the next day or the day after that. In fact, he _still_ hadn’t been back, and it had been a full three days since he’d broken into the police station.

He did, however, have a job lined up for later that night. He just had to make it that far first.

“Kimi,” Hide whined, slouching over the table where they were waiting for their lunch. “If I don’t leave right after we eat I won’t have enough time to see him before I have to work.”

“And how is it _my_ fault that you haven’t gotten to see this _mysterious beau_ of yours in so long that you actually think begging will work on me,” Kimi said teasingly.

Hide huffed. He knew that tone of voice. He knew exactly what it meant and it wasn’t going to work on him; he wasn’t going to spill his guts about Kaneki because he still had some dignity left and he’d never hear the end of it if he admitted he crush was a ghoul. He’d spent way too much time giving her grief about dating Nishio ( _he’s got a retractable tail, Kimi! A tail!_ ) not to know what was in store for him when she found out.

Even if Kaneki was _completely_ _different_ from Nishio with his adorable white hair and the best coffee in Tokyo.

Yeah, no. He definitely wasn’t saying that to Kimi.

“But I’ve been busy,” Hide said pathetically, burying his face in his arms so Kimi wouldn’t see the blush rising in his cheeks.

He must have sounded more pitiful than normal though, because Kimi reached out to ruffle his hair. “You realize that you can’t date him anyway until I’ve thoroughly vetted him, right?”

Hide groaned at the idea, rolling his head against the wood of the table. “Eventually. Maybe. Let me at least ask him on a date first.”

“You haven’t asked him on a date? For shame, Nagachika!” Kimi said, mockingly affronted. She threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging gently until he raised his face to meet her gaze. “But really, you sound like you like him a lot. You should ask him out.”

Feeling his features softening in the face of her earnest expression Hide sighed, disentangling himself from her fingers and sitting up properly in his chair. “I know. And I want to. It’s just that I don’t know where to take him that wouldn’t end up being a work-date.”

“Well, what does he like?” Kimi asked. “Surely you have some idea or you wouldn’t be so infatuated that you’re trying to weasel your way out of lunch with me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of skipping out on you,” Hide said, his tone coming off a little more serious than he’d intended. It was true though; he and Kimi had stuck together through the fallout from her family’s death and then their decisions at Kamii, and there was really nothing that could shake that bond now.

“I know you wouldn’t,” she replied softly, and Hide caught the flash of understanding in her eyes before they brightened mischievously. “But don’t go trying to change the subject on me; what does your boy like doing?”

“He likes co- reading,” Hide said, catching himself just in time. While coffee definitely counted as something Kaneki enjoyed, saying it out loud to Kimi came a little too close to admitting that Kaneki was a ghoul. He knew Kimi would sympathize with him after she got the teasing out of her system, but he wasn’t up to thinking about the very real difficulties of humans dating ghouls. Hide knew he was luckier than most humans in that his friends would be supportive, but he’d still have to deal with the very real possibility that Kaneki could go out one day and not come back.

Hide knew it was slightly hypocritical of him to think that way, what with his chosen profession in the criminal underworld, but ghouls tended to have an even shorter life expectancy as criminals than humans did, and Hide wasn’t sure he could deal with that.

“Reading,” Kimi repeated, dragging Hide out of his thoughts. “You could take him to a bookstore. Maybe out for a drink afterward?”

 _Drink_ not _dinner_ , Hide noticed. Bless Kimi and her ability to understand what he didn’t say.

“A bookstore date? You want me to take him on a bookstore date?” Hide asked incredulously, trying to insert some humor into his voice.

Kimi took the hint, letting his moment of melancholy slip by without remark. “Why not? I think it’d be cute.”

“It would be lame is what it would be,” Hide corrected, settling into the familiar groove of their banter. “I know absolutely nothing about literature, and I don’t think I could give him any book recommendations even if I did. He gave me his favorite author to read and it put me to sleep.”

“You fell asleep reading his favorite book?” Kimi asked with a wicked grin. “That’s adorable.”

“No it’s not,” Hide groaned, rolling his head back and staring at the ceiling. “It was incomprehensible. How am I supposed to interact with him on a _bookstore date_ if I can’t even finish the first chapter of his favorite book?”

“I suppose you could let him initiate the bookstore date,” Kimi relented. “And from what you’ve said, you might not even be waiting that long.”

Hide sighed, knowing she wasn’t completely off the mark. “It might be a little longer than you think,” he said anyway, putting up a token protest.

“Hmmm,” Kimi said, squinting at him as though she were examining him for any lies he might have told her. “I bet you’ll be surprised.”

“Maybe,” Hide replied with a shrug. “I still want to see him tonight though, and I haven’t talked to him since last time, so I want him to know I’m okay.”

“Well I suppose if this is really important to you, I can let you go after lunch,” Kimi said with a put upon sigh, then she let out a grin. “I also may have a meeting this evening, and I’d need to cut our dessert a little short to pick up Nishiki anyway.”

“Can’t let Nishio-sempai miss any meetings,” Hide said solemnly before grinning back. “Things going well for you?”

“As well as can be expected,” Kimi replied, giving him her usual noncommittal line. Hide nodded, not prying further. He knew Kimi and Nishio had joined up with a group of ghouls after they’d left the 20th ward because Nishio needed the support and neither Kimi nor Hide had been ready for that particular job. It had just been dumb luck that Hide hadn’t needed help himself, so he’d never actually met the gang they worked with. He still worried though.

“Stop frowning at me, you’ll ruin my appetite,” Kimi said, flicking Hide on the forehead and pulling him back into the present.

“You know I worry,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“I know,” Kimi replied just as quietly. “It’s your primary occupation. But really, we’re fine.”

Hide frowned harder at her when she sat back and flagged down their waiter, but didn’t say anything. Even if Kimi were in trouble, there wasn’t much he could do about it. One human going up against a group of ghouls was criminally stupid even under the best conditions, and if something had happened to Kimi and Nishio Hide knew it would be nothing short of a suicide mission for him.

The waiter sat down a pitcher of water, breaking the contemplative atmosphere that had settled between them.

“So if I can’t get you to tell me about your secret beau, how about your work?” Kimi asked, zeroing in on a new conversation topic. “I haven’t heard about any of your jobs since we split at Yamada’s speech.”

“I’ve mostly been taking jobs in the 7th ward,” Hide admitted, grateful for the subject change. “I might take a few more there too.”

“Does this have anything to do with the person I’m not asking about?” Kimi smirked.

“Maaaybe,” Hide said, drawing the word out with a grin. “But it’s also pretty calm. It’ll be a good place to lay low while I wait for people to lose interest in me.”

Kimi mused silently for a moment before nodding decisively. “I agree. The 7th ward got cleaned up a little over a year ago. Not much going on there now.”

“It’s been getting busy recently,” Hide said, remembering the dead cop that had caused him so much trouble. “But yeah, I remember that from when I first checked the place out. There’s been almost nothing on the radar for the past year though.”

Kimi hummed noncommittally. “Guess you’re just bad luck then.”

Hide snorted. “Yeah, that’s me. Bad luck seems to follow me around. Which reminds me, what is your opinion on robbing morgues?”

“Morgues?” Kimi repeated, nonplussed. “You got hired to rob a morgue?”

“Put a virus in their database, but yeah,” Hide said, running a hand through his hair. “And I have to actually go there to do it too. Makes me feel kinda bad.”

“Hide,” Kimi said carefully, “you know who hired you for this, right?”

“It’s not that hard to guess,” Hide replied, letting his hand fall back into his lap. “I don’t have any reason to be worried about it though; the money checked out.”

“Okay,” Kimi said dubiously. Hide stared her down until she explained. “Since when do ghouls need humans to run jobs for them?”

“Since it’s something menial they don’t care to get their hands dirty with? Or since the morgue installed RC scanners on every door and alarms on every window?” Hide said with a shrug. “It’s not like they’re paying me much, but it is a big facility so I can see how it would be beneficial.”

“I guess,” Kimi said, clearly not enthusiastic about the prospect. “Who hired you?”

“Payment from the 11th ward. Officially an unafiliated business wants their competition taken down, unofficially I think someone wants access to the bodies,” Hide said.

“11th ward?”

“Yeah,” Hide said, “It’s been pretty stable for a while too.”

Their waiter came back into sight carrying their food, and Kimi let the conversation die there. Hide could tell she still felt uneasy about it, but short of taking backup there wasn’t much more he could do to make sure it was safe. Shell companies making payments wasn’t exactly uncommon, and he would be operating on safe ground in the interests of ghouls; two factors that were as close as he could get to a guarantee that the Daigo-kai wouldn’t be able to touch him.

They spent the rest of the meal making small talk about their past heists and Kimi’s plans for her next apartment with Nishio. She was looking at places in the 21st ward, and Hide felt obliged to comment since that was where he lived. As it turned out, Kimi had her sights set on a place not too far from where his apartment, and they got distracted discussing the pros and cons of living in a neighborhood populated primarily with university students.

By the time Kimi had to leave Hide still felt like she hadn’t completely understood his point about how her and Nishio moving in might raise a few eyebrows because of their age. Newlywed paradise his neighborhood was not, but he decided to leave it for another time.

“Same place next week?” Kimi asked, leaning in to kiss Hide’s cheek.

“Of course,” he answered, giving her a quick hug.

“Great,” she said with a smile, stepping away and turning to walk home. “Don’t make me go looking for you.”

“Don’t make me go looking for you either,” Hide replied in kind, grinning at her as she laughed and headed off down the street. He stayed until she was out of sight before turning and starting toward Kaneki’s apartment. It was still early enough that he should be able to spend some time there before he had to leave to start his job.

Hide slipped into the alley and made his way up the fire escape to Kaneki’s window. Flipping the latches open and pushing the window up, he dropped into the apartment.

“Kaneki?” he called out, toeing his shoes off and setting them by the door. “You home?”

“Give me a minute,” Kaneki replied, his voice muffled from where it filtered through the closed door to his room.

Making himself comfortable, Hide settled on the couch to wait and scanned the titles on Kaneki’s bookshelf. Maybe if he could figure out which genre was most common - or a set of favorite authors - he could enlist the help of the internet in making recommendations.

The door to the bedroom opened and interrupted Hide’s thoughts. Kaneki walked out into the main room dressed in a black catsuit with way too many cutouts and drew Hide’s gaze as he made a beeline for the coat rack by the front door. He acted as though he was completely oblivious to Hide’s staring, but the slightly exaggerated swing of his hips gave him away. Hide honestly couldn’t say he minded though, because _goddamn_ Kaneki looked good.

He was still gawking when Kaneki took a black pullover off the rack and yanked it over his head, covering up before he turned around to face Hide.

“Sorry,” he said, his lips twitching up in what must have been the beginnings of a smirk even as he tried to keep his tone level. “I have to go somewhere tonight, so I can’t stay.”

“That’s fine,” Hide said, hoping his voice didn’t sound quite as scratchy as it felt.

The way Kaneki’s eyes lit up told him it hadn’t. “You feeling all right?” he asked. “You sound a little hoarse.”

“Ha ha,” Hide replied dryly, finding his voice again. “You sure you don’t have time for a drink? Make sure I’m not going to dry up and wither away on you?”

“I don’t have time,” Kaneki said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I’ll be late if I don’t leave now.”

“I guess I’ll head out too then,” Hide said, heaving himself up off the couch.

“You don’t have to go yet,” Kaneki said hurriedly. “Stay. Make some coffee, eat some of your food. Just put whatever you use by the sink so I can wash it later and lock up when you leave.”

“Okay,” Hide agreed before he had a chance to process what Kaneki had said. “I’ll, uh. I’ll do that. Thanks.”

Kaneki shuffled forward slightly before turning and heading for the window.

“Wait,” Hide called out, stopping Kaneki just as he shoved the window open. “Where is your key this time?”

“Under the doormat,” Kaneki replied as though it were obvious.

Hide stared at him, certain he’d heard wrong. Surely a ghoul would take precautions against someone breaking in and seeing things they weren’t supposed to see. Things like human meat in the refrigerator. “Are you serious?”

Kaneki shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “It’s not like this apartment is actually secure enough to keep someone out if they really want in.”

That wasn’t really an arguable point, seeing how Hide had proved it himself the first time he’d broken in through the window. “But you could at least make an effort,” he hissed, trying to keep his voice down. “It’s not exactly difficult to trace this apartment back to you if anyone figured it out.”

“They’re not looking for me here,” Kaneki said, his posture shifting to something that Hide couldn’t read. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Hide was reminded of Kimi’s comment about him earlier, and he let out an exasperated sigh. “You people are terrible. I need new friends.”

Kaneki smiled and moved away from the window, stopping less than a meter in front of Hide. He reached out, looking unsure of himself, and rested his hand at the junction between Hide’s neck and shoulder. Hide froze in place at the touch and felt Kaneki squeeze and let go, smiling but not saying anything as he made to leave.

The noise Hide made might have been a little desperate, but it really wasn’t his fault when Kaneki just left him hanging like that. He lunged after Kaneki, spinning him around with a hand on his arm.

“That’s not fair,” Hide said briefly in explanation before he leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Kaneki’s lips.

Hide felt Kaneki’s mouth twist upward into a smile, and then he was kissing back. His lips were a little off center and a little too tight with suppressed laughter to be good, but it was definitely a kiss.

“Uh,” Hide stuttered when he pulled back, not sure what to say. “Be safe?”

Apparently that worked because Kaneki nodded, then gave him a genuine smile. Hide felt himself melt at the sight, because those facial twitches Kaneki had been doing before? Were not real smiles. But this, this lit up his entire face and made Hide want to kiss him again and see if he could make it last forever.

“You too,” Kaneki said, stepping back reluctantly. “I’ll see you when I get back?”

“I-” Hide started, then changed his mind. “Yeah, I’ll be back tonight.”

And there it was again, that blinding smile. Hide thought he’d agree to pretty much anything if he could see that on a regular basis.

“Okay.” Kaneki turned and made his way over to the window, ducking out onto the fire escape and then jumping off the side in a move too practiced to be anything but familiar.

“I thought that window was oddly easy to open,” Hide muttered to himself, climbing out onto the fire escape to make sure Kaneki hadn’t broken any bones jumping down five stories. Kaneki looked up at him from the alley floor completely unharmed and with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before he flipped over the fence and disappeared into the maze of back alleys.

Still riding the high from their first kiss, Hide climbed back through the window, closing and locking it behind him. He still had a little time before it would be safe to start his job, so celebratory snacks it was.

Opening the cupboard where Kaneki had stored his food, Hide noticed that the hoard had gotten bigger since the last time he’d visited. Grinning at the thought of Kaneki perusing a grocery store and picking out things he thought Hide would like, he reached into the cabinet and pulled out something he knew he hadn’t bought.

He came out holding a packet of strawberry flavored Kit-Kats, and Hide laughed as he ripped the package open, breaking the candy apart and shoving it into his mouth. It tasted good, and Hide let himself savor it as he went over his plans for the job. He might have to cut a few corners if he wanted to get back by a decent hour, but he’d yet to meet a morgue with a Fort Knox level of security, so he could probably swing it.

Tossing the candy wrapper into the trash can, Hide walked over to the couch and stretched out. The idea of leaving early and getting a head start was tempting, but breaking in somewhere that had the money for RC scanners before dark was just asking to get caught.

Pillowing his head on his hands and staring up at the ceiling, Hide called up the layout of the morgue, replotting his planned route. He’d still have to enter through the main doors since the windows were all alarmed, but he could ditch his cover and use the staircase instead of riding the elevator down to the server room. It wouldn’t even cost him much in the way of safety, since no one would believe that the pizza delivery boy got lost badly enough to end up in the server room anyway.

By the time he’d run through the new plan to his satisfaction, it was time to go. Lifting himself off the couch, Hide shuffled around the apartment collecting his gear before heading out the door. He couldn’t stop himself from snorting when he found the key was under the doormat, exactly where Kaneki had said it would be. Stupid ghouls and their lack of self preservation.

Hide skirted around the edges of the lobby, avoiding the gaze of the receptionist as he made his way out onto the street. Once on the sidewalk Hide started walking at a faster clip, heading toward the morgue.

When he was a few blocks out, Hide stopped behind a pizzeria to grab some empty boxes for his cover story. Keeping up a brisk walk the rest of the way, he went straight into the front lobby and over to the front desk.

“Pizza delivery for,” he paused and pretended to check a receipt, “room 107?”

The security guard barely glanced up from his computer screen before motioning him through the scanner. Hide went, not bothering to stop on the other side.

As soon as he was out of sight, Hide dumped the pizza boxes in the nearest trash can and started toward the staircase. Just as he reached the door his phone went off, vibrating in his pocket.

Hide felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him, but forced himself to remain calm and pull out the phone. He almost always left his phone behind when he went on jobs, and when he did take it he left it on silent. He must have forgotten to turn it off after his lunch with Kimi, and he found himself incredibly thankful that there was no one else in the hallway with him. Taking it out and checking the caller ID, he flipped it open and answered it.

“Kimi?”

The voice that replied was definitely not Kimi. “Are you at the morgue?”

“Kaneki?” Hide said incredulously. “How did you get that phone?”

“Later,” Kaneki answered, voice tense. “You need to get out of the morgue.”

“Why?” he asked, wincing as the word came out of his mouth. He trusted Kaneki and he trusted Kimi; and regardless of how Kaneki had come across her phone, let alone known to call him on it, Hide should probably be jumping first and asking questions later.

“ _Later_ ,” Kaneki ground out, reinforcing Hide’s gut feeling. “You need to get out. Meet me by the Coffee and Crepes cafe halfway to the 21st ward border.”

“Okay,” Hide agreed, shoving down any questions he had and making a beeline for the main entrance. “Is it safe to walk out the front door?”

“Should be,” Kaneki replied, tension still thick in his voice. “See you in ten.”

“Got it,” Hide said, hanging up the phone and picking up his pace. He made it out of the building without incident, but stuck to the back alleys just in case as he made his way to the rendezvous point.

He spotted Kaneki’s white hair immediately when he arrived at Coffee and Crepes, and sidled over to stand next to him in line.

“Are we getting drinks and talking?”

“When we’re somewhere safe,” Kaneki replied, stepping out of the line and leading Hide further away from the morgue. “Come with me.”

Nodding in silent acquiescence, Hide followed.

 


	3. Chapter 3

The walk was a lot longer than Hide expected, taking them from the 7th ward past where he lived to the heart of the 21st ward. They finally stopped in front of small bookstore cafe a few blocks away from the nearest train station.

Kaneki opened the door and strode in, walking straight to the area marked ‘Employees Only’ behind the service counter.

Hide followed him through a second door and up a staircase to the second story. Kaneki led him down the hall, stopping just short of the last door before turning to face Hide, body language fading from confident and in control to tense and uncertain.

“I don’t need you to tell me that there are a bunch of ghouls in there,” Hide said after a few seconds, hoping that was what Kaneki felt uneasy about. He wasn’t sure he could handle anything more serious.

The tension didn’t disappear, but Kaneki’s expression evened out and he seemed to reach a decision. Opening the door, he gestured for Hide to go in.

The first thing Hide noticed upon walking into the room was the surprisingly cozy set of couches and chairs arranged around a low coffee table. There were probably a lot of other interesting things in the room as well, like the people Kaneki worked with, but he didn’t get a chance to take a look at them before he was knocked off balance by an armful of worried Kimi.

“Don’t do that to us again, oh my god,” she said, throwing her arms around him and clinging.

“Okay,” Hide agreed blindly, not sure exactly what she meant but willing to say just about anything in the face of her obvious distress. When she didn’t let go he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, burying his nose in her hair and rocking her gently from side to side. “I’m okay,” he said softly, rubbing a thumb over her shoulder. “I’m safe, and I’m not going anywhere.”

She held on to him a few moments longer before pulling away, framing his shoulders with her hands and giving him a hard stare. “Next time you’re in this deep, you need to _tell us_ ,” she said firmly.

“I will,” Hide promised, reaching up and squeezing her hand.

“Good.” Kimi let go and turned around, maneuvering through the puzzle of couches and people back to Nishio’s side. Nishio wrapped an arm around her shoulders when she sat down and sent Hide a very pointed look that said he would be hearing about this later. Hide nodded back at him; for all of Nishio’s bluster, it was nice to know he cared when it really came down to the wire.

Beside him, Kaneki cleared his throat. “This is Hide,” he said, introducing him to the rest of the group. “We weren’t followed, but the morgue was in Inagawa-kai territory, so it was definitely a setup.”

Hide frowned at Kaneki’s assertion about the Inagawa-kai. As far as he knew - and he had done some pretty extensive searching - they weren’t the ones after his head. In fact, they were having a disagreement with the people who were after his head. Why would the fact that the job was on their territory be proof of anything?

“Thank you, Kaneki-kun,” said the man at the head of the table, dragging Hide out of his head and back to the present.

As soon as he spoke the tension that had been present since Hide had arrived started to ease out of the room. He eyed the man warily, hoping he’d listen to Kaneki or Kimi when they discussed what to do with him. Kaneki nodded deferentially at him and took a seat in one of the empty chairs near the end of the table, pulling Hide down next to him.

“Now that he’s safe we need to change our negotiation plan to cover him too,” Nishio said into the silence that had descended in the wake of the old man’s words.

“You realize that altering the arranged agreement will have consequences,” the man said, his voice eerily calm.

“Obviously,” muttered a dark haired girl seated next to Kimi. “But we wouldn’t have rescued him if we weren’t going to do it.”

“Touka-chan is right,” Nishio said. Hide glanced around the room in an attempt to gauge the reactions to Nishio’s statement. Kimi, Kaneki, and Touka seemed to agree with him, but he couldn’t get a read on the other four and he had an unsettling feeling that they were the ones who were really in charge.

“You put Kaneki in charge of the actual negotiations,” Nishio continued, unfazed by the blank looks he was receiving. “And it’s not like he’s not capable and willing to take whatever those fuckers can dish out.”

Nishio’s pronouncement was met with silence, and Hide found himself shifting uncomfortably in his seat at the implication that Kaneki would be taking a beating for him. The old man seemed to be having a conversation with the white haired man in an overcoat that consisted only of a series of increasingly intricate eyebrow raises, and Hide was about to say something in his own defense when Kaneki spoke.

“I’m going to do it whether you want me to or not.”

Hide wasn’t sure that was the best approach to a debate, but he kept his mouth shut. Kaneki’s words seemed to have more of an effect on the fearsome foursome in charge than Nishio’s had though, and Hide found himself wondering exactly who these people were and how Kaneki had earned enough trust to be able to say things like that without fear of being shut down.

“If you think that is best, you know you have our support,” the old man said, receiving nods from the other three.

“Thank you, Yoshimura-san,” Kaneki said, inclining his head in a gesture of gratitude. “The negotiations are tomorrow at midnight, and I’d like to keep Hide with me until then.”

“Of course,” Yoshimura replied easily. “Then if you have made up your mind, I will leave you to explain the details to our new friend.”

With that, Yoshimura and the three people Hide still didn’t know got up and drifted out of the room. He was about to open his mouth an ask exactly what was going on, but Touka beat him to it.

“Don’t look so intimidated. They just wanted to impress on us that this is _serious business_ ,” she said, mockingly drawing out the last two words. “They’re not actually going to change the plan.”

“The plan includes helping you,” Kimi supplied helpfully from where she had nestled against Nishio’s side. “We all want to see you on the other side.”

“Okay,” Hide said uncertainly, his gaze flitting over to Touka. He understood why Kimi and Nishio would stand beside him regardless of the consequences, and he was pretty sure he knew why Kaneki would too. But he’d never met Touka before in his life, and his first impression of her screamed _cynic;_ not really the type of person who would go out on a limb to help a stranger.

She seemed to pick up on it, because she gave him an indecipherable look. “I work with too many bleeding hearts, and I don’t like seeing them upset.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Hide said, feeling awkwardly out of place at the reminder that he was a newcomer here even if they were his friends. Trying to steer the conversation back to more neutral ground, he asked about the negotiations. “So why are you guys meeting with the Daigo-kai?”

“Daigo-kai?” Kaneki repeated, sounding confused. “We’re not doing anything with the Daigo-kai.”

“Um,” Hide replied intelligently, his mind drawing a complete blank. “But you said the morgue job was a setup?”

“By Aogiri Tree,” Kimi said, filling in when it became obvious Kaneki was just as confused as Hide. “They’re the ones who’ve been after you, but we thought they’d given up after the job with Yamada.”

Hide stared blankly at her, trying to put the pieces together. He’d never heard of Aogiri Tree before, so whoever they were they must be new. Maybe a group of ghouls? Probably a group of ghouls, if Kimi’s implication that the ten ghouls who came after him at Yamada’s political rally were with Aogiri and not the Daigo-kai.

“Wait,” he said, hitting a stumbling block in his logic. “If you knew who they were when we ran from them at Yamada’s speech, why didn’t you tell me?”

“We didn’t know at the time,” Nishio said, clearly unhappy with the admission. “Fine, _I_ didn’t know, so there was nothing to tell you. And by the time Kimi and I knew what they were doing we thought you were in the clear.”

“They sent _ten ghouls_ after me and you thought they were just going to let it go?” Hide said incredulously. _“Really?”_

“They’ve got bigger problems than you,” Nishio shrugged. “And Yamada was a target of theirs too; apparently they weren’t too fond of his policies on criminals.”

“Tell me about it,” Hide muttered under his breath. He remembered why he’d chosen to pick on Yamada, and it certainly hadn’t been for his anti-environmental stances. “So you thought I was in the clear. What the hell did I do to piss them off? I didn’t even know they existed.”

“You took out a few of their major supporters in the 21st ward and probably prevented them from making a deal with the Daigo-kai,” Kaneki supplied. “It’s been very convenient for us; we haven’t had to fight to maintain our presence here since they haven’t been able to gain any footholds.”

“Which makes it easy to say you were working for us all along,” Kimi said, as if that explained everything. Hide supposed it kind of did, assuming they wanted him to join the group.

Did they want him to join? Did _he_ want to?

Yes. Yes he did. He might not have any idea what he was signing up for, but if it let him stay with Kimi and Nishio and gave him a chance at getting to know Kaneki better, he was all for it. And if the comfortable way Kimi and Nishio were snuggled together on the couch was any indication about what this place was like, he wouldn’t have any regrets.

“So you’re offering me a position here?” he asked, just to be sure.

“We are,” Kaneki confirmed. “If you want it, although we’ll have to come up with another idea if you don’t.”

“I do,” Hide said, eyes darting between Kimi and Kaneki. “I definitely do. Can’t let you have all the fun.”

Touka snorted at his pronouncement but Hide chose to ignore it, focusing instead on the feeling of warmth spreading through him. He’d been curious about Kimi’s network and Kaneki’s affiliations, but he’d never expected his questions to be answered with a personal invitation.

“Besides, we could always use a thief who actually knows how to pick locks,” Nishio said sarcastically, nudging Kimi lightly as she swatted at him.

“I dare you to find a lock she can’t break into,” Hide challenged with a grin, settling comfortably into the routine of nettling Nishio to cover the awkwardness he could still feel lingering in the room. “It might take some time, so I’ll give you a while to find one.”

“ _Thank_ you,” Kimi said to Hide before turning and glaring indignantly at Nishio. “At least someone here appreciates my skill set.”

“I do appreciate your skill set,” Nishio said, dropping his voice an octave and leaning in to brush his nose against hers.

“You guys have a room, you know,” Touka pointed out. “Nearby, in fact. You could even use the one across the hall.”

Hide laughed at their flirting and turned away to give them some privacy. “Do they do this all the time here too?” he asked, offering the question to Touka like an olive branch. “I thought I was special.”

“I wish,” Touka said, giving him a brief commiserating look that said she too had been exposed to enough sickeningly adorable moments between Kimi and Nishio to be completely over it. It put Hide at ease, knowing that she was willing to give him a chance.

The moment didn’t last long though, and Touka turned to address Kaneki before Hide had an opportunity to reply. “Do you need me here to go over the plan?” she asked. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to go make sure Hinami is okay before we head out.”

“I’ve been over the revisions with you, so no,” Kaneki said. “I’ll fill you in if anything changes. Say hello to Hinami for me and tell her I’m sorry I can’t come over?”

“Okay,” Touka said, standing up and heading for the door. “At least I’ll be able to tell her about the guy you’ve been skipping out on us for.”

“I didn’t-” Kaneki started, his sentence turning into an unintelligible mumble when Touka ducked out of the room before he could finish.

Hide tried to keep the grin out of his voice. “You were waiting for me at your apartment, weren’t you.”

“It’s not like you have any room to talk,” Kimi said, pulling away from Nishio to make fun of him. “Not after you took _three jobs in a row_ in the 7th ward just to be in his neighborhood.”

“I did not,” Hide protested, carefully not checking to see Kaneki’s reaction. Kimi gave him the look that meant she knew he was lying. “One of those was a personal errand. It’s not a job if I don’t get paid.”

Kimi’s eyebrows were unimpressed with his argument. Hide thought he deserved a little more credit than she was giving him, but he couldn’t say that without losing face so he settled for glaring back instead.

“God, I don’t need to see this again,” Nishio complained, standing up and pulling Kimi with him. “You two can argue about this next time, I’m ready to go home.”

Breaking off their staring contest, Kimi rose to her feet and looked back at Hide. “You know I’m right,” she said with a grin. “But hey, welcome to the club.”

“Thanks,” Hide replied, casually leaning back against the chair and trying to look like he belonged there. “I take it we’ll see you here tomorrow?”

“We’ll be here beforehand, yeah,” Kimi agreed, her eyes lighting up in a way that said she’d caught his slip. Hide grinned and nodded, waving as she and Nishio left.

Sitting up straight in the chair again, he turned to face Kaneki. Now that they were alone with no one there to act as a buffer, Hide couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say. Thank you? Would that be appropriate? It probably would be, considering Kaneki had said he’d go against his boss’s wishes to include Hide in whatever deal they had going down with Aogiri Tree, but was it enough? Should he say something else?

And what about the kiss he’d given Kaneki before he left for the job? They should probably talk about that at some point, especially since Kimi and Touka thought it was okay to tease them about the dumb chances they took so that they could be in the same area.

“Go over the plan with me?” Hide asked instead, because that seemed like fairly steady ground without any messy emotional ramifications. And if Kaneki intended to include him in negotiations, he needed to know what was going on.

Right?

“Sure,” Kaneki said in a rush, sounding just as relieved as Hide to have a topic to stave off the awkwardness. “I’ll be meeting their representative just inside the 6th ward. You and Touka-chan will be watching from a vantage point nearby and will join me once the greeting is done. Nishio-san, Yukimura-san, and Yomo-san will be acting as backup in case things go wrong. Everyone else will be waiting here for the news.”

“I take it I need to be there to solidify my position with your... group?” Hide prompted, hoping to get Kaneki to give him some information about the ghoul gang he’d just joined without having to explicitly ask for it. He hated admitting when he didn’t have any intel, but this time he was completely in the dark.

“Anteiku,” Kaneki supplied, smiling a little sheepishly at Hide. “I know the shop sign says ;Re, but the name carried over from the last shop. But to answer your question, yeah. They’ll need to see you with us.”

“Anteiku then. Okay,” Hide agreed. He’d expected that he’d need to be seen with them when he’d jumped on the chance to join up. “Is there anything else I should know about before I sign over my soul? Any clauses you’ve neglected to mention or scary people I should watch out for?”

“You already seem to be friends with Nishio, so you should be fine,” Kaneki deadpanned.

“He’s not that bad once you get used to him,” Hide defended, relieved that Kaneki thought he’d fit in well enough to answer his question with a joke. “Abrasive like sandpaper, but he’s got some redeeming qualities. I’m more worried about Touka-chan. She’s okay with this? Me?”

Kaneki blushed and stared intently at the ground, so Hide knew he must have caught on to his meaning. He waited in silence for Kaneki to gather his thoughts. “I- She’s my best friend,” he said at last, eyes still fixed on the floor.

Hide thought of Kimi’s over protectiveness when it came to him dating and smiled. He could definitely get behind Kaneki having someone like that in his life. “So she’s not going to try to eat me while we’re stalking your meet-and-greet tomorrow?” he asked teasingly.

“She’ll probably make a few threats,” Kaneki replied, face flushing a deeper red as he realized what he’d said. “Not that you should be concerned.”

Hide laughed. “I’ll be surprised if Kimi doesn’t try to corner you and do the same thing. Although I imagine it’ll have a bit less weight coming from a human.”

Kaneki grimaced, letting Hide know his guess about Kaneki’s relationship with Touka was right. “She can be terrifying.”

“Well, she does have Nishio pretty well under her thumb,” Hide agreed cheerfully. “But she trusts you, so whatever she says it won’t be bad.”

Ducking his head, Kaneki peeked out at Hide from under the fringe of his hair and gave him a small smile. Hide felt himself melt a little at the sight and knew his face had to be telegraphing how adorable Kaneki looked like that, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

“So if I shouldn’t be worried about any of your coworkers, should I be worried about Aogiri’s welcoming party?” he asked, loath to change the subject but knowing he had to. Not going over the plan with Kaneki wasn’t an option; as the only human going on this adventure he needed to know what to expect if he planned on getting out the other side.

Kaneki frowned, thinking about his reply before he spoke. “They don’t like us, but their current goals align closely enough with ours that I don’t think they’ll attack outright.”

“You don’t think they’ll attack outright,” Hide repeated dubiously. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“They’ve been making deals with yakuza groups around Tokyo for the contracts to run their morgues,” Kaneki said with a shrug. “The agreements probably include a statement about not ‘losing track of’ bodies that belong to the yakuza, but they’re planning to use the morgues to provide for ghouls who can’t provide for themselves. We do roughly the same thing, although we use suicide hotspots more than we use morgues; less paperwork means less chance of getting caught.”

“But if they’re doing it on the yakuza’s books they’ll have insurance against getting caught,” Hide concluded, following the train of thought through to its logical endpoint. “Okay, I get that. And that really doesn’t sound so bad. I know Nishio and Kimi would have been in a tough spot without you guys to help them after the incident two years ago. So why the different approaches?”

“Yoshimura-san has a bit of a unique view on humans,” Kaneki said carefully. “He’s a proponent of coexisting, as much as we can. Aogiri Tree is more about carving out a niche for ghouls and separating it from the human population rather than integrating.”

Hide nodded and mulled over Kaneki’s words. He knew the general opinion on ghouls among the public was unfavorable at best, which was why so many ghouls found employment in the underworld. Barring acceptance into society, it made sense that ghouls trying to establish a safe haven would do so among the people they were most comfortable with.

“Do you think they’ll try to become their own independent group?” Hide asked. “Try to take over territory and control all the illegal activity like a proper yakuza family instead of stopping with provisions for ghouls?”

The look that flashed through Kaneki’s eyes said Hide had hit on something that bothered him. “Eventually, I think they will,” he said reluctantly. “And we’ll probably have to oppose them when they do. But for now it’s enough to maintain control of the 21st ward.”

“Okay,” Hide said in understanding. “So you’re not giving up any territory. What are you giving them then? It has to be something for you to be able to bargain my safety with it.”

“We’re going to give them the rights to several properties in the 7th ward, including a morgue right near our border,” Kaneki said. “They’ve been looking to expand that way, but so far I’ve been blocking them. We’ll let them have what’s left of the 7th ward if they let us impose a strict border around the 21st ward.”

“ _You’ve_ been blocking them?” Hide asked, unable to focus on anything else Kaneki had said. _“You?”_

Kaneki looked a little embarrassed, but refused to break eye contact. “I do live in the 7th ward.”

“Yeah,” Hide agreed. “But there’s a bit of a difference between ‘I live in the 7th ward’ and ‘I manage half of the 7th ward,’ don’t you think? Next thing you’ll be telling me is that you’re the one who cleaned it up too.”

Kaneki’s flush returned full force at Hide’s last comment and he dropped his gaze. “Oh you did,” Hide said, gaping. “You were the one who dismantled the restaurant and took out the people in charge. Weren’t you.”

“I had help,” Kaneki mumbled to the couch, fingers picking idly at a seam in the fabric.

“You had _help_ ,” Hide repeated, unable to stop the flow of words now that they’d started. “I walk into a random downtown apartment and it happens to belong to _the ghoul who cleaned out the 7th ward_ , oh my god I don’t know if I should be amazed or terrified.”

Hide stopped for a moment to actually look at Kaneki. He’d turned a ridiculously bright shade of red during Hide’s realization and had his head bowed so that he was staring intently at his fingers. No, his _nails_. His very black and kind of unsettling nails.

Like he was, what, afraid? Afraid of what?

It hit Hide like a brick wall. Kaneki was afraid that _this_ would be his breaking point. That it had been all fun and games when Kaneki was a _regular_ ghoul but now that Hide knew just how strong Kaneki was, that would tip the scales into too much. Honestly, Hide felt a little insulted; he’d known what he was signing up for since the beginning, and if Kaneki just happened to be the biggest and baddest wolf in the pack that was fine by him. More than fine if it meant a better chance of Kaneki coming back safely from his jobs.

“So after the negotiations tomorrow how about we go out for books and coffee,” Hide said, keeping his voice light but serious. “On a date. It’ll be great, you can make suggestions about what I should read and I can make fun of your literature major repertoire and then we can bask in the glory of our new books and enjoy a cup of coffee.”

When Hide finished his proposal, Kaneki was staring at him like he’d suggested they toss babies off of skyscrapers rather than drink coffee. Well, at least he’d gotten Kaneki’s attention.

“What?” Hide asked, pitching his voice to convey that he meant what he was saying despite the words he was using. “You think I suddenly won’t want to date you because I know you’re a ghoul? I hate to break it to you, but I figured that one out when I saw your fridge. It wasn’t very subtle.”

Kaneki still looked like a deer in the headlights, but he gathered himself together enough to respond. “It’s a little different when you see it.”

“It always is,” Hide admitted, remembering the first time he’d seen Nishio’s kagune. He’d been completely terrified and fairly convinced they were all going to die at the time, but it hadn’t changed the way he looked at Nishio afterwards and it wasn’t going to change the way he looked at Kaneki either. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind.”

The tension around Kaneki’s eyes eased a little at Hide’s pronouncement, and he shifted in his seat. “Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

“Okay,” Kaneki said, sounding only slightly more strained than normal.

Hide smiled happily at the pronouncement, sinking back against the chair’s cushions. He might be over the moon that he finally had a scheduled date with Kaneki, but the events of the last day were starting to catch up with him and he was feeling more than a little exhausted.

“So if I have to wait until two days to get you out on a date, what are we supposed to do until then?” Hide hoped the answer involved sleeping somewhere nearby, because he was more than ready for some shuteye. “Because as much as I love the idea of crashing in your apartment, it’s a long way away and I’m really beat.”

“There are rooms up here,” Kaneki said, standing and leading the way out into the hall. “We usually use them as break rooms, but sometimes we let people stay and lay low for a while.”

“You know,” Hide said as they made their way down the hall, “this wasn’t really what I envisioned when you said you still kept up with your old coworkers. I thought it was more of a network thing and less of a ‘we run the ward together’ thing.”

“We don’t run the ward, we just oversee things,” Kaneki corrected, opening a door and leading Hide into a small but comfortably furnished bedroom. “It’s a large ward, so someone needs to provide a united front for the political handling of territories, and we’re strong enough and established enough to do that.”

That sounded a lot like running the ward to Hide, but he didn’t argue the semantics of it. “You’re well established? I thought you’d only been here two years,” he said instead, bouncing on the bed as he sat down and worked off his shoes. “You were in the 20th ward before, right?”

Kaneki’s lips twitched up in a resigned sort of smile. “That’s not what I meant by established,” he said, not giving Hide anything else to go on.

Hide gave a frustrated huff at Kaneki’s reticence, but decided he’d pushed enough on that front for one night. “Are you staying in here too or is it just me?” he asked, waving a hand at the single bed and the small couch over by the wall. “Because as much as I’d like to offer to share, I think it might be a little cramped with two of us.”

“I’ll be in the room across the hall,” Kaneki answered, his voice lilting slightly with amusement. “We can go out tomorrow if you want to get anything, but we’ll need to be back here before the shop closes to get ready for the meeting.”

“No problem,” Hide said, giving Kaneki a sloppy salute and flopping back onto the bed. “And there’s even coffee downstairs in the morning.”

Hide didn’t miss the amused snort Kaneki let out at his assertion about the coffee as he made his way out the door. He also didn’t miss the almost inaudible, “Goodnight,” Kaneki whispered as he shut the door behind him.

Shucking his outer layer and wriggling his way under the covers, Hide smiled as he curled around the pillow and drifted off into a deep sleep.

*   *   *

If Hide had known the vantage point Kaneki mentioned the night before would be _on top of a building_ , he would have brought something more substantial to wear than the light jacket he had on. As it was, he was sitting on the edge of a rooftop with his feet dangling off the side adjusting the knob on a pair of binoculars and trying to focus on the patch of ground where Kaneki was waiting for the representative from Aogiri Tree.

“Why’d we have to do this at night,” Hide complained to Touka, finally bringing the binoculars into focus and getting a clear view of the wrong parking lot for his efforts. “I can’t see anything.”

“We weren’t planning on having to deal with your delicate human senses,” Touka replied. “I can see him just fine without any help.”

“Yeah, rub it in,” Hide muttered under his breath, bringing the binoculars back up and picking out another likely looking gray blob to focus on. “If we’re supposed to be going down to join him, how come we aren’t closer?”

“Do you want to be closer?” Touka asked, her tone spelling out clear as day that Hide would be an idiot if he answered yes.

“Not really,” Hide replied, well aware that he would be a liability if things went wrong. “But I worry anyway. If it’s really been Aogiri I’ve been running into on my jobs for the last few weeks, they have a tendency to send in people who are way overqualified for what they’re doing.”

“Like the ten ghouls they sent into Yamada’s speech,” Touka supplied, pulling out the job Nishio had mentioned the evening before.

“Yeah,” Hide agreed, “or like the time they sent in the Black Rabbit to delete a set of files from Nakamura’s servers.”

The friendly air between them froze, and Hide put down his binoculars to look over at Touka, meeting her stare head on.

“The Black Rabbit?” Touka repeated, voice suspiciously blank. Her shoulders were tense and she took a step toward him, despite how close it put her to the edge of the roof. Whatever her relationship with the Black Rabbit was, Hide didn’t want to get in the middle of it.

“I didn’t ask,” Hide said carefully, “but the person I ran into was definitely a ghoul who was wearing the trademark mask. It could have been an impersonator, but I doubt it; too much risk and not enough reward.”

Touka looked away when he finished speaking, not saying anything for a moment before letting out a long sigh. “That idiot. He always did have a habit of biting off more than he could chew.”

“And a flare for the dramatic?” Hide suggested, hoping to lighten the mood. “He was practically dancing for the cameras.”

Touka snorted to cover her amusement then frowned. “I’ll bet he loved that,” she said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“He definitely didn’t want to be there,” Hide agreed, pausing for a moment to consider whether or not Touka would want to hear more. “But his intel was good and he seemed fine, so I wouldn’t worry about him too much. He’s doing okay.”

“Who says I’m worried,” Touka spat out, stepping back and trying to regain her composure.

“We’ve all got people we’re worried about,” Hide replied casually, sure now that this was personal for Touka. “And I don’t think he’s the only one you care about.”

“If you’re talking about Kaneki he can take care of himself,” Touka said, her voice taking on a slightly softer quality. For a given value of soft. Hide thought he was beginning to understand why Nishio tried to get out of meetings whenever he could; he and Touka probably butted heads over everything, even things they agreed on. And Hide would put his money on Touka coming out on top pretty much every time.

“Like that’s going to affect anything,” Hide said dismissively, picking up the binoculars and squinting at yet another empty parking lot. “Dammit, where the hell is he?”

Taking pity on him, Touka pushed the binoculars down and pointed at a dark gray blob in the opposite direction. “That’s the meeting place,” she said, amusement evident in her voice. “I’m glad he has someone as competent as you looking after him.”

“This is really not my area of expertise,” Hide defended petulantly, focusing the binoculars in the direction Touka had pointed.

“Really? I thought recon was a thief’s _specialty_ ,” she said in a patronizing tone.

Kaneki’s white hair blurred in the corner of his field of vision, and Hide fiddled with the fine adjustment knob until it came into focus. “This isn’t recon, this is stalking,” Hide informed her indignantly. “Consensual stalking, but still. I watch things: buildings, and security, and movement patterns. Not individual people.”

Out of the corner of his eye he caught Touka’s shrug, like she really didn’t see any difference. Hide ignored her, directing his attention to scanning the meeting area for any sign of Aogiri Tree’s representative. Finding nothing he set the binoculars in his lap and made a mental note of exactly which gray blob of a parking lot Kaneki was in before turning to look at Touka.

“Do you think he’d be interested in visiting the modern literature museum at Tokai?” Hide asked, figuring he might as well get her opinion on his date ideas while they waited. He knew a fair amount about Kaneki’s domestic likes and dislikes, but he still didn’t have a good handle on what they could do when they went out that didn’t include bookstores and coffee.

Touka remained quiet for moment, and Hide watched as her face cycled through a series of expressions before she finally sighed and turned to face him. “Kaneki would probably be happy to go to a sewage treatment plant if you were the one who asked him,” she said at last, sounding fondly exasperated. Hide remembered feeling the same way when Kimi had first started dating Nishio, so he took it as a good sign.

“Maybe,” Hide said, trying to keep his tone indifferent despite his heart jumping at the way Touka acknowledged Kaneki’s investment in their relationship. “But I’d like it better if we went somewhere he’d enjoy on his own.”

“He’ll love it,” she said in a flat tone. “Japanese literature, particularly _modern_ Japanese literature is his favorite thing. You might want to bring something to entertain yourself with, because if you take him there he will literally stay all day.”

“If you think he’d like it, I’ll see what he says,” Hide said noncommittally, his memory reminding him that he’d fallen asleep reading Kaneki’s favorite author before. “I’ll take your suggestion and bring something though.”

Hide picked up the binoculars and refocused them on the parking lot, but he didn’t miss Touka’s amused huff at his concession. He figured she probably had a lot of experience dealing with Kaneki once he got absorbed in something or she would be giving him more grief about bringing something to do.

“If you mess it up, I will kill you. Slowly.”

Hide couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face at the threat, taking it as Touka’s official seal of approval. Trying to hide his reaction Hide started checking the parking lot in a grid, keeping an eye out for any signs of movement. On his third sweep, something moved in the corner opposite Kaneki.

“I think someone’s here,” he said, fiddling with the fine adjustment knob to get a clearer view.

“About time,” Touka said derisively. “They’re almost late enough to be insulting.”

Hide had lost track of whoever it was he’d seen moving, so he set down the binoculars in order to check the time.

“They’re still five minutes early,” he said, confused. “I never manage to get to a meeting five minutes early.”

“No offense, _Mr. Hyde_ ,” Touka said, “but you don’t have the sort of power that Aogiri Tree does. You being late is just you being late. Aogiri Tree being late is a power play and a statement about your threat level.”

Hide huffed indignantly, still slightly put out that Nishio had seen fit to tell everyone about his work name over morning coffee and failed to explain exactly what it meant. He knew Kaneki got it, what with his book collection and the way he hadn’t joined in the laughter and the jibes that had been tossed around for hours afterward, but apparently everyone else thought he’d just altered his real name.

Honestly. Like he was that careless.

“Everyone does that,” Hide said, his voice coming out a little sharper than he’d intended. “It reminds the client exactly why they’re paying you and lets you maintain control. It’s manipulation 101.”

“And when you do it to the wrong person, it can start a war,” Touka concluded, ignoring Hide’s irritation. “Especially here. Why do you think they’re negotiating at all if they could just run us over?”

“Because it would attract the doves?” Hide said offhandedly, knowing it wasn’t the answer Touka was looking for.

“That too,” she admitted. “But mostly because of the body count they’d rack up doing it. If they fought us for the 21st ward, they wouldn’t have the manpower to run the rest of their operation.”

Hide nodded and picked up the binoculars, pointing them at the shadowy patch where he’d last seen Kaneki. “So they don’t want to go to war with you. Good to know.”

They lapsed back into a companionable silence, letting the conversation go in favor of watching the scene unfolding below them. Well, Touka was watching. Hide was cursing the physics of binoculars that meant he couldn’t see more than a two meter circle at a time and trying to keep it focused on Kaneki’s head. His success rate wasn’t spectacular but it was good enough, and Hide found himself being more and more thankful for the way Kaneki’s hair stood out like a sore thumb.

Something red flashed beside the white blob of Kaneki’s head, and suddenly Kaneki was gone.

“What the hell,” Hide said, jerking the binoculars down and trying to stare through the darkness on his own. “The fuck was that?”

“The greeting’s started,” Touka said grimly beside him, her eyes locked onto whatever was happening below. Hide grumbled unintelligibly about being left out, and tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

The _greeting_ , if that’s what this was, was happening too fast for Hide to do more than catch random flashes of color, but he felt fairly certain that it wasn’t friendly.

“Is that blood?” Hide asked as something red flooded his field of vision again. He focused on the area where it landed, figuring he might as well look at something he had a shot at actually seeing. “Oh my god, it is. Touka, why is there a fresh bloodstain the size of a human on the ground during a _greeting?”_

Touka didn’t respond, and Hide turned away from the scene below to look at her. Tension radiated out from her posture, and Hide could see the muscles in her jaw clenching as she watched.

“It’s going that well, huh?” he asked, turning back to squint futilely in the direction of the parking lot.

From above it looked eerily still, and if he hadn’t known about the fight he never would have guessed. Silence settled around them as Touka watched the battle and Hide watched Touka, taking his cues about the progression of the fight from the way she twitched anxiously every few seconds.

The quiet was broken suddenly by a large plume of dust rising from the meeting area. Without thinking, Hide jumped to his feet and ran for the stairs, any self preservation he’d had gone in a whirlwind of panicked worry. Distantly he heard Touka’s voice yelling something, but the adrenaline pounding through his veins drowned her out.

Hide pulled up short when he reached the edge of the meeting site, common sense finally kicking in as he saw what a battle between two ghouls looked like.

Both ghouls had their kagune out and locked together like a pair of dueling swordsmen, their clothing covered in bloody tears. Kaneki had his four tentacles crossed in front of him in a guard position, and from the little Hide could see of his face under the mask, he seemed to be straining to keep his opponent from breaking through his defenses. His opponent had pressed up against his barricade with his kagune and while he didn’t seem to be about to break through, it looked like he might be able to uproot Kaneki’s stance and send him flying.

“Kan-” Hide started to yell, only to be muffled by a hand over his mouth.

“Shut up,” Touka hissed into his ear. “We shouldn’t be down here yet, but now that we are at the very least don’t distract him. We didn’t think they’d send someone as strong as Shachi to do the negotiations.”

Hide’s eyes widened at the implication and nodded his understanding. Touka waited for him to relax a bit before she removed her hand, and Hide let out a slow breath, sending her a thankful glance before focusing on the fight in front of him.

If it could really be called that.

Kaneki had disengaged and appeared to be launching a series of quick strikes as he ran in circles around his opponent. It didn’t work and Hide watched in horror as Shachi whirled and struck out with his kagune, landing the blow full force to Kaneki’s abdomen.

Skidding back several meters, Kaneki knelt on the ground with his kagune curled around him to form a barrier while he recuperated. Hide felt himself start forward at the sight, but Touka’s hand on his shoulder reminded him of exactly what type of liability he would be if he got in the middle of that. Clenching his fists at his own helplessness, Hide gritted his teeth and watched.

“You’re too mismatched,” said Shachi, relaxing his stance slightly as he approached Kaneki. “You use advanced techniques well, but you lack the fundamentals to back them up.”

Hide saw Kaneki straightened up, his posture shifting into a more open pose even as his kagune tightened around him. “I was never formally trained,” he said, taking a cautious step forward. “But most ghouls aren’t.”

“No,” agreed Shachi, “they aren’t.” His kagune dissipated behind him, and he lowered his center of gravity in preparation for a fight. “So tell me, how does someone who has no martial training to speak of come to smell like Rize?”

“ _Shit_ ,” Touka breathed beside him, eyes flashing over to black as she prepared to step in to help Kaneki.

“Dr. Kanou,” Kaneki replied quickly, spreading his hands as if to show he had no part in the story he was telling. “He transplanted her organs into me and killed her in the process.”

Shachi seemed to consider this for a moment, and Kaneki reached up to take off his mask. He pulled the body of the mask down and moved the eyepatch off to the side and Hide found himself having to stifle a small gasp of surprise when Kaneki opened his eyes.

The eyepatch.

_Eyepatch._

Kaneki had as good as told him when they’d gone out for the coffee stake out and Hide had _missed it_. And then he’d said it again by telling Hide that Anteiku _wasn’t that type of established_. Of course he’d meant established in the underworld. Dear _god_.

“I take it Dr. Kanou has paid for his decisions,” Shachi said approvingly, apparently understanding the unspoken message behind Kaneki’s mismatched eyes.

“Yes,” Kaneki confirmed, sounding disturbingly pleased for something that Hide knew must have been a bloodbath.

Although given the the rumors he’d heard about Kanou and his experiments, Hide couldn’t really bring himself to care.

Shachi chuckled and extended a hand toward Kaneki. Walking forward and dissolving his kagune, Kaneki reached out and shook it.

“In that case, I will treat you as her legacy,” Shachi said, dropping his hand and standing back. “What is it you wish to negotiate with Aogiri Tree?”

Hide felt Touka tug gently on his arm to let him know this was their cue. He let himself be led, following her around the edge of the parking lot so that they approached the meeting from behind Kaneki instead of from behind Shachi where they had been watching.

“I have contracts for the agreed upon locations,” Kaneki was saying as they walked up behind him. “But we do have one addition to the negotiations that hasn’t come up before.”

Kaneki shifted to the side and Touka nudged Hide forward into the opened space. He went easily, facing Shachi to show that he wasn’t a threat and wasn’t hiding anything.

“Mr. Hyde has been working for us in the 21st ward,” Kaneki said, his voice taking on a formal cadence that Hide hadn’t heard from him before. “With the official cessation of hostilities between Anteiku and Aogiri Tree, we want to note that he is part of our organization and will be treated as such by this agreement.”

“Done,” Shachi acquiesced almost immediately. “So long as you understand that anything Mr. Hyde does after this meeting will be considered representative of Anteiku and Aogiri will respond in an appropriate manner.”

“Done,” Kaneki replied, gesturing to Touka to hand Shachi the contracts. “Everything in the 7th ward will be ready for use by the end of the month.”

“End of the month?” Shachi repeated, raising an eyebrow as he took the folder from Touka. Hide ran Kaneki’s words through his head again in an attempt to figure out what he might have missed. Then it clicked. Kaneki had told him that Anteiku planned to give Aogiri a set of useful properties in the 7th ward, but also that _Kaneki_ had been the one blocking them in the first place. And he lived in the 7th ward. Of course Aogiri would want Kaneki to leave before they moved in.

Kaneki stood his ground, and Hide looked over at Shachi to see what his response would be. He was fairly sure he saw the corners of his eyes crinkle in what might be the start of a smile at Kaneki’s refusal to back down. Or a glare. The black sclera made it a little difficult to tell.

“The end of the month, then,” Shachi said in a voice that let Hide know he was humoring them. “I can’t imagine what Aogiri would need with the area before then.”

“Thank you,” Kaneki said, ducking his head politely before executing a formal bow. “Anteiku looks forward to working with you in the future.”

“Don’t be so stiff,” Shachi said, snorting at Kaneki’s formality. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other soon.”

Kaneki straightened up and nodded, holding his position in front of Hide and Touka as Shachi turned and left. Once he was out of sight Kaneki’s spine seemed to slump, all the fight rushing out of him now that there was no one left to impress.

“That went well,” Touka said dryly, striding over to Kaneki and checking him for injuries.

“It didn’t go badly,” Kaneki said plaintively as he held out his arms and turned slowly for Touka’s inspection.

Hide couldn’t hold back the noise of disbelief at Kaneki’s statement. “How did that not go badly? You’re completely covered in blood! That is the _definition_ of going badly.”

“I’m fine,” Kaneki protested, shying away from the way Touka glared at him as he said it. “No lasting damage.”

From the commiserating glance Touka sent his way, she didn’t believe him any more than Hide did. “Uh huh, no,” Hide said, planting himself in front of Kaneki and waving a hand somewhat wildly at the tattered remains of his outfit. “In no way does this qualify as okay.”

Kaneki opened his mouth to respond, but Touka cut him off with a jab to his ribs. Hide winced in sympathy at the pain that flashed across Kaneki’s face, and felt a momentary surge of guilt. Kaneki had gotten injured in part by defending Hide, and he didn’t like to be in debt like that; not even to his friends.

“Looks like you’ll live,” Touka said grudgingly, interrupting his thoughts and circling around Kaneki to stand next to Hide. “Maybe next time you could use a little less flare during the greeting.”

Hide glanced quizzically over at Touka, hoping for an explanation on what he’d missed while he’d been fiddling with the binoculars. He didn’t get one, but Kaneki clearly knew what she meant and looked properly chagrined about it. “I don’t think it would have gone any other way,” Kaneki said, purposely avoiding her gaze. “He was spoiling for a fight as soon as he smelled Rize.”

Touka gave an annoyed huff, but apparently considered that an adequate explanation and let the subject drop. Hide considered pressing the topic, since he really would like to know exactly how someone named Rize connected to Kaneki getting beaten black and blue by a madman, but he decided it could wait. He could grill Kaneki about it sometime when he wasn’t dressed in tatters in the middle of a public parking lot in the wee hours of the morning.

“As much as I’d love to know exactly how you got to the point where this qualifies as normal,” Hide said, “I‘d feel even better if we had this conversation somewhere else. Preferably where there isn’t blood all over the ground and I can find a first aid kit.”

“I suppose we also need to let the old man know how the meeting went,” Touka agreed reluctantly, keeping an eye on Kaneki in a way that suggested she wanted to make sure he didn’t run off and do anything stupid.

She was in luck, because Kaneki just nodded quietly and turned to lead the way back to the 21st ward. Sneaking a glance at Touka to make sure this was normal behavior for Kaneki, Hide relaxed at the sight of the long suffering but fond look on her face as she watched him go.

Hide figured that Touka’s exasperated expression and Kaneki’s ability to walk meant that things would work out okay. Letting that thought sink in, Hide turned to follow Kaneki back to the coffee shop.

*   *   *

Hide was somewhat disappointed to find out that Yoshimura and the other ghouls in charge of Anteiku considered the meeting to be a complete success.

“Relax,” Nishio whispered to Hide as they watched Kaneki give his report from the back of the room. “He’s a lot sturdier than he looks.”

“There was blood _everywhere_ ,” Hide said plaintively, knowing he was whining but unable to stop. “It doesn’t matter if he can heal or not, getting cut up badly enough to lose that much blood is not good.”

Nishio put a hand on his shoulder, and Hide startled at the contact. “He’s okay,” Nishio said in a softer voice. “We’re built to handle this sort of thing.”

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to,” Hide grumbled to the floor. Nishio snorted lightly, and Hide realized exactly how much that sounded like something Kimi would say.

Well, Kimi was right. So there.

Nishio didn’t respond, and they watched Kaneki’s discussion with the leaders of Anteiku taper off and end. Kaneki bowed, bidding them a formal goodnight before walking over to join Hide and Nishio at the back of the room.

“Are you planning on going home tonight?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. “I know you live nearby, but you might want to stay with someone from Anteiku tonight just in case.”

“Oh god,” Nishio groaned dramatically. “I do not need to be here for your awkward flirting. Get a fucking room.”

“I’d feel better if I could stay with you,” Hide said, ignoring Nishio as he left and shut the door noisily behind him. He crushed the urge to clarify; to say that he just wanted to stay with Kaneki to make sure he was okay and not what Nishio had insinuated. Not that he would object per se, but it wasn’t anything he expected.

“Okay,” Kaneki agreed easily, his stance settling once Hide said yes. “Do you need to pick up anything before we go?”

“If you can let me borrow a toothbrush and some pajama pants, I think I’ll live,” Hide said, mentally running through the list of things he might need and discarding them one after the other as unimportant.

The beginnings of a blush appeared on Kaneki’s cheeks as he picked up on Hide’s implicit offer, but he just raised a judgmental eyebrow and didn’t say anything. Hide grinned at him, letting Kaneki decide if he should insist on stopping by Hide’s apartment anyway.

“Fine,” Kaneki said a moment later, cheeks turning a fiery red as the words left his mouth.

Hide laughed, imagining kissing the embarrassed pout off of Kaneki’s face. _Later_ , he chided himself. Possibly even later tonight, if he was reading this right.

“After you then,” Hide said instead, opening the door and gesturing for Kaneki to go first.

Kaneki turned an even deeper shade of red and went through the door, mumbling something about gourmets and patronizing behaviors. Hide chose to ignore him, stepping up to walk beside him as soon as they exited the shop.

They walked through town in a companionable silence, enjoying each other’s company and the cool night air as they meandered toward the 7th ward and Kaneki’s apartment.

Hide was somewhat surprised to see a different receptionist manning the front desk at Kaneki’s apartment building. He hadn’t thought the devil woman he’d met the first time he’d waltzed in the door ever slept. A side effect of getting your energy straight from Satan’s fiery pits and all that.

Kaneki waved at the new receptionist in greeting and pulled Hide into the elevator, leading the way to his front door when they arrived at the fifth floor. Hide watched with mild amusement as Kaneki fumbled around in his pockets for the key, cursing when he couldn’t find it.

“If you took it with you to the meet-and-greet, I’d say you probably lost it,” Hide pointed out, remembering the utter wreck Kaneki’s clothes had been. “Or you left it at the coffee shop when you changed.”

“Dammit,” Kaneki swore softly, checking his pockets one more time before bending down and sliding the spare key out from under the welcome mat.

“I still can’t believe you keep that there,” Hide said conversationally as Kaneki unlocked the door.

Kaneki didn’t reply, just slipped out of his shoes and made a beeline for the kitchen. Hide watched appreciatively from the doorway as Kaneki pulled out the makings for coffee from the cupboards.

When Kaneki set down the kettle and started waiting for the water to percolate through the coffee grinds, Hide sauntered over to the counter. Positioning himself closer to Kaneki than was strictly necessary, Hide reached up for the cupboard with the sugar, leaning into Kaneki’s space as he did so.

Hide was paying more attention to his proximity to Kaneki than he was to his footing, so it really shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was when he lost his balance and slipped sideways. Letting out an undignified yelp as he felt himself lose control, Hide squeezed his eyes closed and braced for a painful impact with the floor.

It didn’t come.

Cracking an eye open to see what had happened, Hide found himself looking up at a very amused Kaneki.

An amused Kaneki who was currently holding him up off the floor.

“Um,” Hide said, cheeks flaming with embarrassment. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Kaneki said with a cheerful smile. “But you know, if you wanted a kiss you could have just said something.”

“I-” Hide started to protest, then thought better of it. “Yeah, sorry. Can I still have one?”

Kaneki dropped a kiss on his nose and helped him back to his feet, ignoring the way Hide pouted at him. “Coffee’s ready,” he said, pulling down two mugs and pouring them before Hide could object and demand a proper kiss.

Hide let out a short laugh at Kaneki’s maneuvering and accepted the mug, adding his sugar and creamer before taking a sip. “It’s good,” he said, blowing gently over the coffee to cool it down to a more acceptable temperature.

“Coffee is always good,” Kaneki said, putting three of the brown cubes in his own cup. Hide raised an eyebrow at the excess, but didn’t say anything. If ghouls found the cubes edible, Kaneki probably needed as many as he could fit in his cup tonight.

Hide felt the silence settle around them like a blanket as they savored the warmth of the coffee together in the kitchen. Between the strong scent of coffee and the comfortable companionship that pervaded the room, Hide felt safe and secure in Kaneki’s apartment.

Kaneki finished his coffee first and stepped over to the sink to rinse his cup, breaking the stillness with the rush of water from the tap.

“I’ll do that,” Hide said, reaching out and taking the cup from Kaneki. “You made it, so I should clean up.”

He waited for Kaneki to say something, possibly to remind him that he was a guest and shouldn’t be doing any work, but Kaneki just handed him the mug and stepped back. “Okay,” he said quietly. “I’ll be on the couch.”

Hide nodded and watched Kaneki leave the kitchen. Once he was alone, he opened the dishwasher and made quick work of rinsing out the cups and pot and setting them onto the rack. Satisfied that there was nothing else he needed to do to the dishes, Hide ran a rag across the counter, wiping up the condensation that had formed around the bottom of the coffee pot. Wringing out the cloth and washing his hands, Hide wiped them dry on the towel Kaneki kept on the oven and made his way into the living area.

Kaneki sat neatly on the end of the couch, a well worn book open on his lap. Hide cleared his throat and stepped forward, getting Kaneki’s attention.

“Coffee’s cleaned up, you just need to run the dishwasher,” he said, nodding toward the kitchen.

Gaze briefly flickering over to the kitchen, Kaneki set the book down and moved to stand next to Hide, leaning into his space as he turned to look down the hallway toward his bedroom.

“So,” Hide said a little uncertainly, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake. “Am I sleeping on the couch tonight?”

His words seemed to snap Kaneki back into the present, causing him to straighten up and actually look at Hide.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he said, his voice going low and rough. “Unless you really want to.”

Hide was unable to stop the whine from leaving his throat at the way Kaneki was looking at him, hot and sultry and _hell yes_ he wanted what Kaneki was offering.

“ _Yes_ ,” Hide said, the word jumping out of his mouth before he could formulate a coherent sentence. “I mean, no, I’d rather not sleep on the couch.”

Kaneki gave him that blinding smile that Hide had seen after the first time they’d kissed, and he couldn’t help but reach down and take Kaneki’s hand, threading their fingers together as he did. “Please?” he said, squeezing gently.

“Yeah, okay.”

Kaneki tugged on their joined hands, leading Hide into his bedroom and shutting the door behind them.

 


End file.
